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THE MYSTIC SYMBOL OF FAMILISM 


COUNTRY LIFE 
IN SOUTH CHINA 


THE SOCIOLOGY OF FAMILISM 


VOLUME [ 


PHENIX VILLAGE, KWANTUNG, CHINA 


BY 


DANIEL HARRISON KULP II, Px.D. 


Assistant Professor of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University 
Sometime Head of the Department and Professor of Sociology 
Shanghai College; Founder of the Yangtsepoo Social Center 
Shanghai; Author of Civics, An Inductive Study of the 
Elements of Community Welfare in China 


BUREAU OF PUBLICATIONS 
Teachers College, Columbia Gnibersitp 
NEW YORK CITY 


1925 


COPYRIGHT, 1925 
BY DANIEL HARRISON KULP II 
TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


ALL RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION RESERVED INCLUDING 
THOSE OF CHINA AND JAPAN 


PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 


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PREFACE 


The contents of these chapters are offered to students 
of things Chinese in order to supplement the scanty mate- 
rials extant on village life. They offer a detailed analy- 
sis of one particular village, in the northern part of the 
Province of Kwantung, located in a geographical and 
social drainage basin of which Swatow is the gateway. 

There are three well-known treatments of village 
life in China: Doolittle, Social Life of the Chinese; 
Smith, Village Life in China; Leang and Tao, Village 
and Town Life in China. The first deals only with the 
region generally south of the great Yangtse River; 
the second treats of life in North China; the third 
attempts to suggest characteristics applicable to the 
whole of the Chinese Empire. The first two, written 
by men who were not natives and who used the socio- 
logical tools of Herbert Spencer’s Descriptive Sociology, 
are very enlightening but unsatisfactory for present- 
day needs of social organization. The last, possessing 
the advantage of composition by Chinese trained in 
modern social science, comes much closer to sociological 
contribution, but is also defective in the use of socio- 
logical tools of analysis. All three attempt by generali- 
zations to cover large areas in which the facts vary so 
greatly that only differential treatment can disclose 
the truth. The danger of generalizing about wide 
areas of life in China has to-day become well recognized 
so that it is a by-word among leading thinkers and 
writers, both Chinese and foreign. 

The older materials on village life have lost prestige 
and credibility for two reasons: one, because of the 


vi PREFACE 

generality of treatment; the other, because of changing 
conditions of life. But the need for facts and interpreta- 
tions on village life was never greater. To-day the 
strategic importance of the village in national life is 
coming to be recognized. Educators, missionaries, 
politicians and statesmen realize that the village is 
the backbone of China. It contains most of the popula- 
tion of the country and comprises those engaged in 
agriculture, which, under modern conditions of trade 
interpenetration and communication, is of international 
significance. 

The statesmen and politicians who are interested in 
improving the products from agriculture, and thus the 
income of the farmers, need the facts of village life 
analyzed to discover trends and tendencies in rural 
conditions that have a bearing upon the development 
of the kind of rural life that can furnish the proper foun- 
dation for the new national growth. Educators need 
a reliable rural sociology upon which to determine the 
objectives of rural educational organization and practice. 
Missionaries, now largely engaged in socializing their 
religious ideals by applying them in town and village, 
are hampered by the lack of analytical and interpretative 
material on the village. The number of leaders who 
are taking up the problems of rural life in China is con- 
stantly increasing and the value of their efforts depends 
directly upon the development of a sociology of rural life 
that employs the latest methods of study and analysis. 

A rural sociology in China worthy of being utilized 
by politics, education, religion and social work, can be 
achieved only by a large number of differential, organic 
case studies of particular village communities all over 
China. Those interested in national development 
either for patriotic or religious reasons would do well 


PREFACE vil 


to codperate in establishing research centers wherever 
possible to set up a program of study that aims at even- 
tual analysis of the social soils of every district through- 
out China. The character of the variety of social soils 
to be found will determine the kind of citizens that will 
grow up in the new social order. That this new social 
order will necessarily be better is not at all certain. 
Many places will be found where the soils are defective; 
there the social engineers,—the politicians, religious 
leaders, educators, social workers, will have to add the 
limes of counteracting influences and the fertilizers 
of attractive activities of a wholesome kind. 

This study suggests a method practicable for immediate 
initiation in parts of China other than the one herein 
selected. But it contributes to the extant knowledge 
of communities anywhere in that it shows what insti- 
tutions and folkways have developed under conditions 
relatively static. It provides materials for comparison 
with rural village communities in India, Europe, and 
America. It indicates the rapid derangement of tradi- 
tional social relationships, attitudes and values, which 
arises from the increased contact of China with the 
rest of the world. 

Under the circumstances, I hesitate to make the 
personal acknowledgments I would like, to those who 
have rendered in various ways valuable codperation 
in this investigation. The opportunity to study the 
physical characteristics of the people was offered me 
through the kindness of Professor S. M. Shirokogoroff, 
formerly curator in the Academy of Sciences, Petrograd, 
anthropologist and ethnologist. He loaned me his 
anthropometric instruments and familiarized me with 
the methods of measurement and calculation used by 
the latest and best researchers into racial types. Only 


Vill PREFACE 


by collaborating on the basis of identical method could 
the village folk be located ethnically. 

I desire to express my indebtedness to the many 
missionary friends in Swatow and Chaochow who, 
through their unstinted hospitality, advice and assistance, 
made my own field work more pleasant and profitable. 
Finally, it is a pleasure to acknowledge the assistance ren- 
dered me by the Catholic Fathers at Siccawei, Shanghai. 
They put at my disposal the splendid resources of their 
meteorological library. 


Dobe 


Chapter 


if 
II. 
AMil. 
IV. 

V. 

VI. 
YII. 
VIII. 
IX. 
x. 
XI. 
XII. 


Number 


if 


ie 


III. 


CONTENTS 


Page 
MmISeCIOUALituatione he ee a ive I 
PpOemttO AN Lede tel ote tae eG nee: 29 
PPC MICCLAUIONSHIDS Wk Vo ee ei a, ay leblechr aha ata ke 62 
nea ETACTICES 00.1 ct ital eauie lade. 3 84 
STS EL) RAI OA Me Ei a AN I 106 
Perera and) the, SID ali s ke aes od 135 
ULES ee ol Qtr en Cre weg take i 189 
moiucduon and the schools... 1 Sy 8. 216 
PrP CCrea OM ert arta eo fois es) ed ute 261 
Religion and the Spiritual Community. . . .. 284 
Mee A TIONG Mele ba Pa ates Ce ie els 315 
The Village as a Neighborhood and as a 

BRESTLATAL Vico aE Ales eerie Maina Tair ge ehh § Reh ayy Wes 8 
Memeebibiosraph yume ees 6 iu vale 347 
CUM Sint s Veh EG Fate Aya) ea re ee tigre Go | 
a ec ARTA he tas Pas Geigy 7 

ILLUSTRATIONS 
The Mystic Symbol (Plate I) Frontispiece 


Facing Page 
Chaochow Terminus of the Ferry from Phenix 
UCSC Gad ad Ge he 6 


Local Ferry to Tan Tou an dWatering Place 
ORY ehh, Jab ue ewe MY ilu ACS Ce he 6 


x CONTENTS 
Number Page 
IV. Market Street and Gate to Tan Village (Plate III) 14 


V. “Main Street”? in Phenix Village—Residences 
(Plate TID) 


VI. Phenix Village: Type A, Profile (PlateIV) .. 75 
VII. Phenix Village: Type A, Full View (Plate IV) . 75 
VIII. Phenix Village: Type B, Full View (Plate IV) . 75 


TX. Orchards and Gardens (Plate.V) . 2 o2eeh eaves 
xX. Spinning and Weaving (Plate V)-3" > 7 ae 
XI} Hulling Rice (Plate V) 00). 


XII. The Finest Home in Phenix Village (Plate VI). 155 
XIII. The Almanac: The Guide of Familist Life 


(Plate VID) 62) 20 er 

XIV. Village School “A” in Ancestral Hall “E” 
(Plate VITD) oi... 4 3 0 rr 

XV. The Original Ancestral Hall of Phenix Village 
(Plate VITD) oko oe io cr 

XVI. Entrance to the Village Temple Guarded by 
Military Heroes (Plate 1X) .° .) 2 05a 
XVII. A Religious Image from the Village ene | 
(Plate tum ie edi) 4 . 2049 
TABLES 


Number 
I. Birth-Rate for Phenix Village, July I917 to 
July 1918 Pe es 
II. Death-Rate for Phenix avi oe I917 to 
July 1918 : : 
III. Population: Age Distribution . 





Number 


IV. 
V. 
VI. 
VII. 
MOLLY: 
IX. 


XI. 
XII. 


XIII. 
XIV. 


XV. 
XVI. 
XVIT. 


XVIII. 
XIX. 
XX. 


XXI. 


CONTENTS Xi 


Page 
PM Clon ex MISH bULION 2 er A een at. 36 
BACON CS ANCA CE ty UR tia un Ns EAM Mae LG 
Romilaviony Waritalotatus ja ey i tek oO 
Bomuiations: Marital Groups) i we aie so ti 30 
Population: Defectives and Lepers ..... 54 
enineseouinenix Village a es, Eye yL 
. Comparison between Phenix Village and Other 
PREIATICLCSTOUDS iyi sion akes tes Or DAMON Cle a ar 
ee eae Ora DISET UOT cue dle ce ee ee oul ly OO 
Age at Marriage of Nine Mothers and Four 
Li Sinai y Catuteh  MEWT p Od, AN ae Aa CRU hi 9 
Operation of the Mutual Aid Club... .. I92 
Relative Strengths of Attitudes in Voluntary 
RECTAL ION Get er La ty iy citi etyy ate an) eee 


Comparison of Schools in the Transition Period 222 


Distribution of Pupils by Schools, 1919 . . . 228 
Relation of School Population to Total Children 
POMOC LACE. TOLO MS hei Nadia hanes eau Ute Meee 
Annual Teachers’ Incomes and Tuition Fees . 230 
Meu LIOULS Of CHOC! Av iiss) ailauieis i eeao 
(a) Curriculum Schedule of School B . . . . 239 
Sae@nrricultim tiours of School’B 2) ach) 240 


School Population by Ages, Sex, and Schools, 
Rea Meme sn shoe Wiha. Ue VR RON DL SRS SAS 


Xi CONTENTS 


MAPS 
Number Page 
I. Relation of Phenix Village to China and the South 
MICAS aie Weel GRREe te ROU es Weer Vs ee 2 
2. Regional Map of Phenix Village... 2.3 9 
3.: Local Map of Phenix Village”... 7)\..)) 
4. The Expansion of the “Chinese”? Culture Complex. 64 
5. The Business Section of Phenix Village ...... £94 
FIGURES 
Number 
1. Scheme. for Socioanalysis '. >.....). | Sa ee 
2. Meteorological Chart for Phenix Village Region . 24 
2, Age! Classes ol aso AQ a ee RS es 
4.) Sex and Age:Classes' (0... 4)... & 0) 2 
5. Floor Plan of Ancestral Home’ . . .) 2 2 eee 
6. Typical Familist Groups) 2 ."°., 7. 2 
7, Preferential: Mating)... s 1... 0) 
8. The Floor Plan of the Village Temple “B” .. . 290 
9. The Arrangement of Sacrifices to Ancestors in Home 


Worship. so. 2 Qsiee Sloe) bia rr 
to.: The Floor Plan of Ancestral Hail“ E°” "9 ae 


INTRODUCTION 


I. METHODOLOGICAL NOTE 


American agricultural science in a splendid burst 
of prevision has entered upon plans for complete soil 
surveys for the entire country with analyses to indicate 
what particular soils need for particular crops and what 
crops could best be grown in what soils. American 
social science has not yet had the courage to attempt 
a program of community analysis for the whole country, 
similar in adequacy and completeness to the agricultural 
studies. This is due to the youth of social science and 
to the lack of governmental subsidy for such effort. 
Can it be said that apples are more important than girls, 
or wheat than boys? Or can it be maintained that 
because it has not been done in the west, China must 
wait for a scientific culture of her youth? 

For many reasons, economic, political, historical, 
religious, it will take a long period before even fairly 
wide and reliable knowledge can be had of communities 
throughout the country. The initiation of such research 
is, therefore, all the more urgent. 

How far the practices and conditions found in the 
village subjected to analysis herein are duplicated else- 
where can be determined only after similar studies have 
been made in all the other principal sections of the 
country. To begin with, it would be most valuable to 
select one village in each great section of China. Then 
it would be possible to break up each section into smaller 
areas, and so on successively until social studies were 
complete. The selection of areas of initiation follow 


XIV INTRODUCTION 


characteristics of distinct culture areas—determined by 
occupation, implements, social organization, attitudes 
and ideals and so on—and facilities for research. Further 
principles of selection are suggested later on in the 
description of the method of selection for study of this 
particular village. 


ORGANIC METHOD OF STUDY 


The concrete data as detailed herein apply only to 
this one village and are to be so interpreted. Later 
this same village should be studied together with all 
the other villages around it in order to have complete 
knowledge and understanding of it. The circles of rela- 
tionship would inevitably extend not only to those 
village communities immediately surrounding it, but 
to others far removed geographically. And yet a com- 
munity in East China, or in the Straits Settlements, or 
even in America may influence this village more than 
one geographically contiguous. The limitations of in- 
vestigational resources confine this study to one village 
only. As resources enlarge, the expanding relationships 
should be followed through. This would be increasingly 
facilitated by the completion of similar studies in other 
parts of China. 

And so, what is needed to-day for a real understanding 
of the social life of the Chinese people is not a gathering 
of abstracted materials, loosely classified about a series 
of topics of more or less popular interest, but intensive 
studies of selected groups, villages or regions, analyzed 
in detail and presented in an organic way so that the 
relationships and correlations of the facts discovered 
will disclose functions, processes and trends. 

In this study the scientific control is far from satis- 
factory. It inheres primarily in the unit of study, the 


INTRODUCTION XV 





collection of data, the crude discovery of correlations 
—crude because of the impossibility of getting at certain 
facts—the analysis and the classification of phenomena. 
The study aimed at no immediate practical ends and 
was therefore unbiased by prejudice for a theory of social 
reform. As a study of the village it would technically 
be classified as pure sociology. 

In establishing control in scientific research, isolation 
of phenomena is the first step. In sociology this is 
secured in a very partial way when studying communi- 
ties. Thus one might subject to observation and analy- 
sis a village near a treaty port which is under many 
new influences, a section of a rapidly growing industrial- 
ized town or city, a rapidly expanding town, or a village 
where outside influences are felt but in a limited way. 
The selection of this last type of community is most 
fruitful in the initiatory stages of research into the social 
life of China. The unit of study should not be unduly 
complicated by selecting one too complex, too large, 
or one that exhibits characteristics easily seen to be 
different from the recurrent type. 

The hypothesis upon which the present selection 
was made is that the recurrent type is the static type of 
village community. Pukow, a community developed 
around a transportation terminal, Wusih, a community 
undergoing rapid industrialization, villages within the 
city limits of Shanghai under commercial and industrial 
influences, would be illustrations of dynamic communities 
where change is rapid. These will all need to be studied 
as soon as possible but it is better to develop technic with 
simpler units, modifying the technic so far as necessary 
when applied to the complex dynamic communities. 

_ That the hypothesis is reasonably safe can be estab- 
ished by the most superficial observation of the communi- 


Xv1 INTRODUCTION 


ties named. In them are to be found houses, streets, 
organizations, groups, attitudes and values not found 
in the static community such as is treated in this study. 

Phenix Village was chosen because its size is not too 
great to encompass with limited resources for research; 
its organization is not too complex; it is located in an 
area characterized by culture elements of a sort distinc- 
tive although traditional, and yet an area subjected 
at present to powerful world forces; and finally, one of 
its members was available as an investigator equipped 
with experience in sociological observation and analysis 
and a valid body of sociological principles. This was 
a fortunate phase of the resources for research. By 
using an investigator to get facts impossible for a for- 
eigner to discover and yet one who was a student of 
modern sociological science—with a technic of observing 
life objectively—and at the same time able to obtain en- 
trance into the situation without arousing suspicion 
because of his kinship with the group and his past ex- 
perience in it, it was possible to do field work of an 
unusual sort. 

Data as to schools, housing, customs, social organiza- 
tion, geographical conditions, in short, the apparent 
aspects of village life, were relatively easily secured and 
checked. Ordinary information is obtainable because 
the villagers exhibit a naive readiness to impart it. 
But questions of income, wealth, the manner of con- 
ducting business, evil practices or immorality of the 
people could only be discovered by the use of indirect 
methods. Without using one who has intimate knowl- 
edge of the community to be studied, the latter kinds 
of information cannot be secured. 

The danger lies, of course, in choosing a field investi- 
gator who may not be honest and reliable, who is not 


INTRODUCTION XVii 


trained to see the facts needed, or who has not achieved 
the scientific attitude of objectivity, of separation from 
life, sufficiently to see it in terms of facts rather than 
feelings. | 

Having found an investigator that fulfilled the re- 
quirements for scientific work and a unit of investiga- 
tion suited to the resources available, a plan of study was 
drawn with explanation and detailed questions appended. 
The field investigator took these questions and went 
into the village two summers, I918 and Ig19, to find 
the answers. The questions were arranged around 
topics as follows: 


A SOCIOLOGICAL METHOD FOR THE STUDY OF VILLAGE 
LIFE IN CHINA 


I. The geographical situation 

. Location of village 

Regional characteristics 

Area of village, of buildings and fields 
. Communications 

Climate 

Map showing details of a, 0, c, d, e 


AP AA SS 


II. Economic phenomena 
a. Sources of income 
b. Types of occupations 
c. Distribution of families by income 


III. Ethnic relationships 
a. Origin of the village and of the sib 
6b. Language and folklore 
c. Customs that maintain clan unity 


IV. Biological data 
a. Population distribution on basis of sex, 
age, marital status 


XVili 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


| He So 


INTRODUCTION 


b. Movements of population 
c. Sanitation 
d. Mortality 


. Political organization 


a. Residence of sovereignty 
b. Types of leadership 

c. Incidence of control 

d. Forms of social opinion 


Social organization 

a. The family 

b. The kinship group—the sib 
c. Associations 


Cultural aspects of village life 

a. Education 

I. Buildings 

2. Teachers 

3. Pupils 

4. Curricula 

Art 

. Music 

. Books 

. Recreation 
1. Children 
2. Adults 


Social pathology 

a. Crimes 

b. Punishments 

c. Kinds of immorality 
d. Charities 


xo Qa & 


Religions 
a. Animism 
b. Ancestor worship 


| 
: 


INTRODUCTION X1X 


c. Village gods 
d. Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Chris- 
tianity 


This organic method of study was used because of 
its superiority to the particularist method. Instead of 
following the latter method, wherein one aspect of social 
life is studied quite widely—a sterile pursuit as long 
ago demonstrated by the unreliable work of Tylor, 
Morgan, Elliot Smith—I pursued the former plan, 
wherein all the details of a delimited culture group are 
studied in their natural conjunctions, relationships and 
inter-dependencies. 

Following are a few typical detailed questions which 
occurred under political organization: Is a woman ever 
the head of a family? Under what conditions? Is 
she ever a member of the council of leaders? Does she 
ever become a leader not socially recognized as such but 
of powerful influence? What is the number of scholars 
in the village? In the council? What is the make-up 
of the council? To what specific uses is the income 
from public property put? What safeguards are pro- 
vided against the misuse of public funds? What are 
the functions of the council of leaders? On what matters 
must the villager consult the leaders? Separately or 
as a council? What is the degree and form of the legal 
responsibility of the council of leaders? 

As the answers to the questions came in, they were 
first checked over for probable accuracy by my knowl- 
edge of village conditions obtained by first-hand study 
in and around Shanghai and Ningpo and Hangchow, 
—all in East China. They were also checked against 
such authorities as Doolittle, Gray, Morrison, Ball, 
Jamieson and others. Some questions were then elim- 


XX INTRODUCTION 


inated, changes in the arrangements were made, addi- 
tional questions suggested by the first results were 
inserted and the whole work in the field was gone over 
a second time during the summer of 1919. 

The results of these first field investigations were later 
checked over and supplemented by my own field-study 
in the spring of 1923. I used the methods of direct 
observation, photographic record of cultural and racial 
characteristics, and interview of those who, by social 
status and age, were best able to supply the information 
sought. Data secured through interviews were promptly 
recorded so as to reduce the possibility of error to a 
minimum. 

That my informants respected my queries to the 
extent of telling the truth is shown in three ways: they 
told me facts which were unfavorable to themselves; 
their statements checked against those recorded by my 
assistant in the first investigations; his statements 
checked against theirs as obtained by myself. All of 
these checks were further supplemented by the check 
of my own knowledge of practices and attitudes in 
Chinese life acquired during ten years of residence and 
of continuous investigation in the field, discussion of 
these matters in sociology classes in a Chinese college, 
and by library research both in China and in the United 
States. 

Three of my informants have had considerable out- 
side contact and familiarity with conditions and practices 
elsewhere. For this reason, and also because they were 
all unusually well educated, they exhibited quite a 
marked objective attitude toward their own village. 
Often while describing village practices quite faithfully, 
they would hasten to add that they themselves did not 
subscribe to superstitious practices. And yet one of 


INTRODUCTION XX 


them admitted the necessity of participation in ancestral 
ceremonies as a social gesture in the interests of family 
harmony and continuity. The objectivity of two of 
my informants arose from their membership in the 
Christian church. While they were still regarded as 
members of the village, practically they possessed quite 
an untraditional status that the villagers themselves 
had not exactly defined. They did not, because of their 
Christian beliefs, participate in ancestral worship, which 
implied a break in the historical community so far as 
they were concerned. Having broken with this much 
of the community tradition because they first intellectu- 
ally disapproved of it, they were able to observe the 
community with a minimum of emotional reaction. At 
times it was necessary to check against the appearance 
of emotional reaction not in support of, but too strongly 
opposed to,community mores. It was quite as possible to 
get unreliable data because of strong emotional attitudes 
of opposition as of support and defense. ‘The personal 
status of these two informants lay entirely outside of 
the village community, so that they only incidentally 
were concerned with the reactions of the villagers toward 
themselves. They were members of Christian churches 
in other communities and were working to achieve 
status in communities where their village status was of 
little or no assistance. For these reasons their informa- 
tion could be set down as sufficiently valid and objective. 

Another informant, in spite of her status as a woman, 
quite readily and proudly maintained her credulous 
attitude toward village practices. She related without 
hesitation and quite naively village betrothal and 
Marriage customs, even commenting upon those most 
closely concerned with her own status. When she had 
finished her accounts of village family customs, she asked 


XXli INTRODUCTION 


that she be told of similar customs in America. I agreed 
to reciprocate during the evening hours when the lights 
were too dim to work. I had an audience of ten people, 
old men and women, wives, aunts, concubines, and 
children, to listen to the story of the betrothal and 
marriage customs in my own country. After describing 
these, I spoke of the modern feminist movement in 
England and America, of women in industry, in trade, 
in the professions, in public life, of the changed relation- 
ships between the sexes, of changes in the home life 
of Americans. These subjects aroused so much interest 
and elicited from both men and women such a rapid 
fire of detailed questions that hours were consumed in 
this way. This incident is of value in indicating the 
character of the situation under which I was able per- 
sonally to secure my own data and check up on that of 
my assistant in field investigation. 

The materials are subjected to only limited formal 
comparison with other villages in China. This was 
necessary for two reasons: to avoid making the treatise 
too bulky; to avoid making statements of other villages 
that were not checked up directly and personally. In 
such cases, the writer could vouch for only one half 
the comparison. Manifestly that would not be worth 
while. These chapters are a direct presentation of 
conditions, problems, and trends in one village, a social 
sounding in onespot in Asia. For this reason, quotations 
from other authors have been studiously avoided. A 
few references are made only to necessary materials 
as sources of information to this village study. While 
such treatment narrows greatly the range of the data, 
it does not equally limit their application but affords 
greater intimacy with the facts and increases the relia- 
bility of their implications. 

| 





INTRODUCTION XXiil 


II. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS 


The significant facts and inferences concerning Phenix 
Village are as follows: 


1. Floods and droughts recur with sufficient frequency 
to keep the people living under deficit economy. 


2. The sub-tropical climate favors fruit-growing, 
which is the main industry. 


3. The daily ferry between the village and Chaochow 
enlarges the area of social participation and contact, 
which injects new stimuli into the village life. 


4. Emigration results from these contacts and the 
condition of deficit economy. 

5. Half the people in the village live under poor eco- 
nomic conditions and depend upon familist organization 
for maintenance. 

6. Extremes of poverty and wealth exist because of 
the importation of wealth from the areas of emigration. 

7. The village maintains its own economic life in 
production and distribution with the exception of a 
limited number of special articles secured from Chao- 
chow or elsewhere. 

8. Almost as many people are engaged in service 
functions as in production functions. 

9. Racially, the people exhibit connections with the 
types of Chekiang and Shantung and differences from 
both. 

10. The sib was founded by an ancestor who was 
an official and who migrated into northern Kwantung 
from Shansi. 

11. Founded in Chaochow in the Sung dynasty, 
' 1000-1280 A. D., the sib was moved to its present site 
towards the end of the sixteenth century. 


XXIV INTRODUCTION 





12. The village has always had a reputation for 
learning and scholarship. 

13. Village polity is shifting in its traditional bases 
from age and scholarship to youth, wealth, and qualities 
of natural leadership. 

14. The village is practically independent of state 
government except in the matter of taxes and the major 
crimes and the necessity of registering marriage. 

15. The authority of the village lodges in the hands 
of the two members of the council of leaders, who rest 
their control on the support of the heads of the sub-groups. 

16. Both public and private matters of all kinds within 
the village are subject to the control and supervision of 
the leaders backed by social opinion. 

17. Authority is integrated through the heads of 
the various groups in the village for effective control 
of each member. 

18. Customary classification of persons on a kinship 
basis defines the status and functions of all members of 
the village. 

19. The village is occupied by one sib, a uni-lateral 
kinship group, exogamous, monogamous but polygy- 
nous, composed of a plurality of kin alignments into 
four families: the natural-family, the economic-family, 
the religious-family, the sib. 

20. Membership in these familist groups varies ac- 
cording to the function the group performs at the moment. 

21. Filial duties to elders and ancestral worship are. 
the central attitudes of sib members. | 

22. Mating is not a personal but a conventional 
matter of familist perpetuity and ancestral worship. 

23. Sons are preferred to daughters because of their 
potential functions as contributors to familist income and 
performers of ceremonial rites for departed ancestors. 





INTRODUCTION xxV 


24. Marriage by purchase exists only among the poor 
people. 

25. Betrothal is effected when the children are between 
eight and ten years of age; marriage, when between 
sixteen to eighteen years. 

26. Previously, marriage was purely a matter of 
family concern but now the law requires the securing of 
a marriage license and registration of the ceremony. 

27. Marriage is never dissolved by divorce, only by 
separation, which is temporary dissolution, and by death. 

28. Blood relationship and lineal status determine 
the organization of the familist groupings, which, in 
relation to the spiritual community, are the criteria 
of all aspects of village life. 

29. In addition to these natural groupings there are 
six kinds of intentional or voluntary groups: Mutual 
Aid Club, Parent Burial Association, Society for the 
Manufacture of Sugar, Irrigation Club, Boxing Club, 
and Music Club. 

30. These groups form to meet specific needs in 
village life and last until the need is met. They supple- 
ment the regular familist groups and provide satis- 
faction of wishes that otherwise would be obstructed. 

31. The wishes satisfied in order of predominance in 
these associations are: the wish for security, dominance, 
new experience, and personal recognition. The groups 
are first of all economic, then for personal rivalry, rec- 
reation, and finally, friendship. 

32. The greatest changes in the village in the last 
twenty years have occurred in places, policies and meth- 
ods of education. 

33. Education of the formal type carried on in schools 
is mainly for boys only and is for participation in na- 
tional not village culture. It is ‘‘face-education.”’ 


XXVIi INTRODUCTION 


34. The education of girls is informal, under parental 
guidance and by imitation, and is directly participational 
and vocational. 

35. Instruction in schools is mass, inflexible, and of 
the conflict type. 

36. Learning is rote memorization; not by group 
cooperation in projects. 

37. The teachers are in a position to develop the 
schools into real village centers. 

38. The schools should be consolidated at the earliest 
possible moment. 

39. The curriculum should be based on village ac- 
tivities. 

4o. The people show everywhere marks of artistic 
appreciation of a high order. | 

AI. Village beauty is marred by carelessness in stor- 
ing and handling farm products, raw materials and 
implements. 

42. The finest art products are created to the glory 
of ancestors. 

43. All art from calligraphy to architecture exhibits 
balance, antithesis and conventionalization. It is 
storied and familistic. 

44. Art objects form a quantitative basis for social. 
classification within the conventionalized village classes 
based on kinship. 

45. Story-telling is the popular form of literary con- | 
sumption. | 

46. Recreation is beginning to lose its taboo but 
children are not taught to play; it is unsupervised free | 
play. | 

47. The recreational life of women is confined to | 
gossip and occasional trips to Chaochow. The installa- | 


INTRODUCTION XXVII 


tion of radio reception would transform life in the 
country for women. 

48. Religion comprises various technics of achieving 
satisfactory memberships in a plurality of communities. 

4g. In addition to the living community there are: 
the natural community, the spirits residing in natural 
objects; the spiritual or ancestral community; and the 
spiritual or historical community, folk heroes and saints. 

50. The spirits and gods are conceived as made favor- 
able to man’s fortunes by magical devices and ceremonies. 

51. All worship, either collective as in ancestor wor- 
ship, or individual as in the Village Temple, is familistic 
in that the objectives of worship are family, not personal 
fortunes. 

52. The annual religious procession in honor of the 
gods provides recreational catharsis from the tensions 
of rural monotonies and a means of demonstrating the 
superiority of Phenix Village over surrounding villages. 
It is an important device for remobilizing village unity 
and solidarity. 

53. The fortunes of the ancestors are the chief con- 
cerns of familist effort; the past has hung a millstone 
around the neck of the present. 

54. Village institutions,—farming, gardening, fruit- 
growing, trade, transportation, family organizations and 
practices, voluntary associations, polity, education, art 
and religion, all function for control of individuals, the 
regulation of their wishes into conformity to traditional 
norms of familist continuity for the sake of the fortunes 
of the departed ancestors who are deemed able to control 

the fortunes of the living, and are very effective. 

_ 55. Individualization of conduct is increasing through 
emigrant experience, the developed contacts with the 
_ outside world through travel, newspapers, gossip, letters 


XXVIil INTRODUCTION 


from emigrants, and an inability to satisfy all the personal 
wishes in the village. 

56. Some people in the village are not judged strictly 
by traditional norms. 

57. By the time the person has attained maturity 
his habits conform to custom quite largely and his 
behavior schemes approximate closely those approved 
by the village community. 

58. Occasionally personality breaks through con- 
ventionality and the community subjects the offender 
of the mores to severe punishment. 

59. All offenses except the failure to pay taxes are 
against the family of one type or another and are sub- 
ject to judgment in the first place by the family and its 
leaders. 

60. The state is increasingly interfering with familist 
autonomy and is forcing more and more cases of mis- 
demeanor into the courts. 

61. The courts in Chaochow are not criminal but 
civil; all cases are tried in civil courts as distinguished 
from military tribunals. 

62. The forms of punishment are elimination from the 
community by death or exile, corporal disfigurement and 
confiscation of property and of rights and privileges. 

63. Judgment is direct application of social opinion 
backed by traditional stereotypes and administered 
through the heads of varying village groups. Each head 
is responsible for those under him and therefore has 
large powers allowed him by the community. Excess 
is checked by social opinion. ; 

64. The bad social practices comprise drinking wine 
with a high alcoholic content, gambling, cheating, 
adulteration of foods, sex irregularity. Only this last 
is uncommon. 


INTRODUCTION XX1X 


65. Phenix Village contains a social system that can 
only be described as familism. 

66. Familism is a social system wherein all behavior, 
all standards, ideals, attitudes and values arise from, 
center in, or aim at the welfare of those bound together by 
the blood nexus fundamentally. The family is therein 
the basis of reference, the criterion for all judgments. 
Whatever is good for the family, however that good 
is conceived, is approved and developed; whatever is 
inimical to the interests of the family, however they 
are formulated, is taboo and prohibited. 

67. Phenix Village is a neighborhood in that its 
members are effectively controlled through primary 
contacts and gossip. 

68. For the majority of its members it is also a com- 
munity in that its services and opportunities are so 
nearly adequate to meet the needs or satisfy the wishes 
of most of them without going beyond the confines of 
the village. 

69. The introduction of new values through world con- 
tact of a secondary nature has resulted in the expansion 
of the community beyond the confines of the village 
for upwards of one-sixth of the population. These no 
longer can satisfy their wishes in the living community 
of the geographical village and so have gone as far 
afield as necessary in order to attain their personal 
objectives. The village community in its maximum 
adequacy now reaches, for such people, as far as the 
South Sea Islands, and at the present moment, the 
United States. Closer areas of adequacy include Swatow; 
still closer areas, Chaochow; and finally, ‘‘Tan’’ Village. 
The closer the area the larger the number of village and 
_sib members contained in it and the greater the adequacy 

of it. 


XXX INTRODUCTION 


70. The ‘‘neighborhood”’ and the ‘“‘community”’ have 
been given a wrong emphasis when defined in terms of 
geography. They are socio-psychological categories 
defining areas of interaction. The neighborhood defines 
interaction in terms of the control and regulation of the 
person’s wishes primarily. The community defines 
interaction in terms of adequacy of services and opportu- 
nities to satisfy or express the person’s wishes. While 
geography in one form or another fundamentally condi- 
tions both, they are areas of discourse founded upon 
various types of communication. Thus the neighborhood 
is an area of intimate discourse growing out of face-to- 
face relationships; the community is an area of impersonal 
discourse growing out of secondary contacts. 

71. Socioanalysis involves the following categories 
and relationships: 


a. The unit of investigation may be either an attitude, 
a value, or the interaction between them. 

b. Processes are attitudes and interactions; products 
are values,—implements, oranges, rites, economic 
family, and so on. 

c. Attitudes and interactions are conditioned by 
a variety of factors: (1) Geography and climate. 
(2) Biology,—heredity, physiological growth and 
functioning, which includes health. (3) Tech- 
nology,—everything not natural, language, plows, 
images, beliefs, prejudices, etc. (4) Society,— 
contact with people under the above conditions. 















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THE REGIONAL SITUATION 


Sixty miles away from where the Han River receives 
the waters of Phenix River tower the heights of the 
celebrated Phenix Mountain. There Phenix River takes 
its rise and, approximately a mile from its junction 
with the Han River, flows peacefully by a hamlet upon 
which it bestows the picturesque name of Phenix 
Village. 

A two-hour trip by boat lands the inhabitants of this 
village outside the walls of the nearest large city, Chao- 
chow,! where the countryside goes from time to time 
to sell, buy and play. A railway now links this ancient 
center of officialdom and learning with the new city 
of Swatow. Since 1858, when as a village on the sands, 
Swatow was opened by the British as a treaty port, it 
has grown rapidly until to-day it stands as one of the 
great port cities of the China coast. It forms the gate- 
way for the world into this northern section of the rich 
province of Kwantung. Through it, by means of the 
railroad, opened in 1906, there pour into the region 
drained by the great Han River stocks of goods and 
ideas that promise to transform the life of the people. 

Swatow is a bustling business port with its steamship 
lines, not only to Amoy, Foochow, Shanghai, and Can- 
ton but also direct to Seattle and to European ports. 
Built recently, it possesses many marks of influence 
imported from these other cities of the China coast, 


1Chaochow, Kwantung. N. 23° 50’, E. 116° 36’. Dates from the Tang 
Dynasty, 618-907 A. D. 


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MAP NO. I. RELATION. OF, PHENIX , VILLAGE 
TO CHINA AND THE SOUTH SEAS 


THE REGIONAL SITUATION 3 


where foreign business enterprises have set the lines 
of modern development in commerce, industry, architec- 
ture, and city administration. 

The railway from the port city to Chaochow is not 
a model for perfection, but it does run trains on regular 
schedule. The station is located about a mile out of 
the city limits and is inconvenient to reach. In spite of 
this fact, crowds of people are constantly moving back 
and forth from Swatow to Chaochow carrying new 
impressions into the quiet old center of the district. 

Such influences are quite manifest in Chaochow. The 
station is a large modern building, properly arranged 
for the comforts of both sexes. From it leads a broad 
motor road into the city proper. This road is about 
twenty-five feet wide, crowned and paved with cement 
concrete. It runs through the main part of Chaochow 
until it meets one of the old business streets where it 
ends. A turn one way leads to the great bridge across 
the Han River and the country beyond. A turn to 
the left leads through a long line of shops and residences, 
out into the country, and along the river bank to a 
spot where the boats from up the river cast their anchors 
or tie their ropes to a wharf. 

This new street, wide and clean, has broken the bonds 
of ancient custom. It stands as a monument to an 
official who tried honestly to improve his city by material 
changes favorable to business, health and public com- 
fort but who finally had to bow and make way for a 
military régime that supplanted him. Both sides of the 
street are to-day lined with shops of modern fashion. 
Their goods are displayed behind glass fronts as in 
-Swatow, Canton or Shanghai. Here are found not only 
_ goods of local production but also imported articles from 

Europe and America, such as toothpaste, perfume, 


4 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


raisins, sewing machines, and so on. The people are 
showing these signs of new life. 

The railway does not end at the station but proceeds 
beyond the city walls to the bank of the Han. This 
it follows for some distance upstream only to terminate 
in the open country. Trains run, however, over the 
whole route so that it is possible for people coming down 
the Han by boat, to entrain more conveniently than if 
they had to go into the city and by devious routes reach 
the station. It is maintained for military purposes 
primarily but the passenger-traffic is far from light. 

Inland village, market city, seaboard metropolis,— 
these mark the gradient by which the villager from the 
upper courses of the Han climbs to his distant vantage 
and brings within his vision the wonders of modern 
change and Western civilization. 


UP THE HAN RIVER 


Outside of the walls of Chaochow about two miles 
up the river is the landing-place for the boats that 
daily ply between the villages and the market city. 
Carried along by current, sail, and scull, the boats usually 
arrive at this landing place about ten o’clock every 
morning with their products for the market. Many of 
the city people who trade with these folk come out to 
this wharf and begin higgling for bargains on vegetables, 
eggs, chickens, brooms, and fruit, the moment a boat 
touches shore. (See Plate II, facing p. 6.) 

The village boats are of a type shown in Illustration 
II. They are commodious and strongly built, capable 
of carrying with a fair degree of comfort about fifty 
persons, including the crew. They have been known 
to carry as many as a hundred at a time, when there 
has been a rush for passage. The passengers do not 


THE REGIONAL SITUATION s 


all belong to the village whose members own the boat. 
In fact, nearly every village along the river, of any size 
at all, owns its own ferry but carries anyone who applies 
for passage. The Phenix Village ferry carries many 
people on its return trip who stop at villages along the 
Han. 

Every day about two o'clock the Phenix Village ferry 
leaves the Chaochow landing place. The people, men, 
women, children and infants, make themselves as com- 
fortable as they can on the floor of the boat. They 
pile their purchases on the deck and under the deck 
boards: hats from city markets, iron bars, wire, cloth, 
candy and nicnacs are some of the articles frequently 
transported. 

The ferry is run by eight men who collectively own it. 
The captain is a tall, gaunt man with head and features 
of Cro-Magnon type. For hours they battle against the 
wind and current. They set the sail and let it fall dozens 
of times in the course of the journey, according to the 
whim of the winds. Where the river is deep and wide 
they tack with splendid skill. Meanwhile, some pole 
the boat by walking along the running boards on each 
side of the gunwale, Others scull in a manner common 
to the China coast. Finally when they come to the 
rapids in the parts of the river shut in by high preci- 
pices, the crew jump on the shore and pull the boat 
for miles. 

The Han River at this time of day is full of cargo 
and passenger boats. They vary greatly in form and 
design according to the place from which they come. 
These villagers who operate the ferries come to know 
each type and the place to which it belongs. The 
fixed outlines for the boats become, then, culture ele- 
‘Ments of a different sort with which those who travel 


6 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


on the ferries become familiar, The most striking 
kind are the Hakka boats from far up the Han River. 
They contrast strongly both in outline and manner of 
operation. They have no running boards on the side 
for poling, which is done along the front and rear exten- 
sions. More distinctive than the lines of construction 
is the arrangement of the sails. The central sail is made 
by merely raising the mat roofing of the boat into an 
upright position and fastening it to the poles set up on 
the side for the purpose. 


HOURS ON THE FERRY 


As the Phenix Village ferry plies back and forth, 
registering the pulse of rural and urban contact, other 
forms of contact among the villages and peoples of 
widely separated districts occur. Thus greetings pass 
between the boatmen of the ferries on the river and 
the Hakka boats from inner Kwantung. Thus, also, 
while travelling back and forth the passengers gossip, 
pass on news of different villages, discuss and argue. 
Upon returning to their village both the boatmen and 
the passengers become ardent dispensers of information 
and criticism. The ferry provides contacts of a kind that 
form public opinion for the villages of the region of the 
Han basin. It is not only a link between the village and 
the cities of Chaochow and Swatow but also a creator of 
social opinion. 

The hours spent in close contact on the ferry provide 
circumstances very favorable to seeing and understand- 
ing new things. The women, decked out in jewels and 
often rouged and with eyebrows picked, kept up a con- 
stant flow of gossip. Relatives, new houses, marriages 
and deaths, fighting and the dangers of soldiers in the 
region, and the weather were the topics that came up, 


BLA TE VII 





II. CHAOCHOW TERMINUS OF THE FERRY FROM PHENIX VILLAGE. 
PATRONS ARE WAITING TO SET SAIL UPSTREAM 





Ill, LOCAL FERRY TO TAN TOU AND WATERING PLACE FOR THE VILLAGE 
POOR WHO LACK PRIVATE WELLS. * THE VILLAGE TERMINUS 
OF THE FERRY TO CHAOCHOW 





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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


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THE REGIONAL SITUATION Z 


among many others, for conversation. On one occasion 
a young man, who clearly portrayed in his features his 
Malayan blood, was reading The Short Story Magazine 
published by the Commercial Press, Shanghai. Every 
little while, when the lad stopped reading, his fellow 
passengers questioned him about his life and family. 
He was not loath to tell them about his people and his 
experiences when he still lived in the Straits Settle- 
ments. He recounted to them all a number of the stories 
he had read in the magazine. So does the ferry provide 
contacts that are richer and “‘thicker’”’ than is ordinarily 
common or possible between members of different 
villages. 

The personal experiences of the writer, upon the occa- 
sion of his own field investigations in this study, further 
show the significance of the ferry in producing contacts 
of an unusual kind. No sooner was he introduced by 
his companion, a member of Phenix Village, to the 
captain of the boat, an uncle and also a member of 
Phenix Village, than questions were put in an effort 
to learn about the visitor and stranger. To a very 
genuine and warm welcome was added not only a strong 
curiosity in the foreigner but also an attempt to be sure 
that no danger, personal or collective, was involved in 
the contact. After the companion had provided the 
captain with the information which it was his duty to 
discover and his right to know, the latter proceeded 
to answer the questions of the passengers. 

Then my companion was himself questioned: Where 
was he now living? Were there any new babies in the 
family? How was his father? When did he come to 
Chaochow? Why is the foreigner going to Phenix 
Village? and so on until the boatmen felt quite content 
to turn to other topics of conversation. 


8 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


These contacts on the ferry are particularly significant 
for the women. Ordinarily hemmed in by household 
duties and routine relationships of a regular and monot- 
onous kind in the village, they are on the boat able 
to secure contacts with new people and contacts that 
last long enough to establish acquaintanceship. 

After hours of travelling, the boat arrives just about 
dusk at the mouth of Phenix River. Its placid green 
waters push out into the turgid and muddy Han, but 
the stream is almost hidden from view by the rich foliage 
of the bamboo trees that overhang its banks. The 
captain blows his horn—a conch shell—and proceeds 
slowly northward to Phenix Village. 


THE ENVIRONS OF PHENIX VILLAGE 


A glance at Map 2, sketched approximately to scale 
but designed primarily to indicate the relationships of 
the village to the main features of the local area, will 
show the geographical points that underlie the lines of 
significant contact for the Phenix Village folk. 

When the water in Phenix River is too shallow to 
allow the ferry to cross the sand bars north of the flood 
bed area, the ferry must then stop in the mouth of a 
small creek on whose banks is located a village herein 
referred to as “‘Tan’’ Village. At this point there are 
always many boats tied up. Itisa transportation junc- 
tion point for all the smaller boats that operate east- 
ward of Phenix River, carrying cargo and passengers 
from that region down to the large ferries for connection 
with Chaochow and Swatow, or intermediate places. 

For this reason, ‘‘Tan”’ Village is a busy little village. 
Its shops show signs of prosperity; people come and go 
all the time through the main business street to the 
wharf or the country beyond; here they stop to drink 


THE REGIONAL SITUATION 9 


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Scale: 1 inch = 117.2 feet 





MAP NO. 2. REGIONAL MAP OF PHENIX VILLAGE 


tea, buy goods brought from down the Han, wait 
for the ferry, and most important of all, learn the news. 
The people of Phenix Village during the dry period are 
compelled, then, to go through this village to and from 
their own ferry. A road leads from ‘‘Tan’’ Village 


10 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


about a third of a mile to the market center of Phenix 
Village. While this is quite displeasing to the people 
of Phenix Village, it does bring them into contact with 
more people than would otherwise be possible. 

During the rainy season, when Phenix River is not 
blocked by sand bars, the ferry goes directly to the landing 
place marked ‘“‘Ferry”’ on the map. Here a local small 
boat plies from one bank to the other, to carry the 
people of Phenix Village to Tan Tou, across the river. 
(See Plate IT, Illustration III, facing p. 6.) 

Phenix Village is located on the east bank of this river, 
extending along the edge about a quarter of a mile. 
Eastward, behind the village spread hundreds of mow! 
of fine tillable land owned by various families and dotted 
here and there with small picturesque villages that look 
quite similar from a distance; beyond, to the east and 
north, rise successive ranges of hills until the loftier 
ranges form the pedestal for the grand peaks of Phenix 
Mountain. Westward the ranges continue, practically 
encompassing the region with scenes of unusual beauty 
and charm. 

On the west bank of Phenix River lie farm lands, 
skirted with groves of luxuriant bamboo and covered with 
wild climbing roses, and bound by the broad waters of 
the Han. 

The banks of the rivers and especially the highlands 
in the distance are covered with underbrush or ever- 
greens. The heights are uninhabited except by wild 
beasts such as wolves, tigers and wild dogs, and provide 
for the countryside cheap fuel. No sooner is the long 
monsoon season over than the villagers fare forth along 
the banks and up the hills to cut their winter supply 
of fuel: ferns, wire grass and evergreen saplings. This 


1A Chinese mow equals one-sixth of an English acre. 


THE REGIONAL SITUATION II 


annual stripping of the hills makes the growth of up- 
land forests impossible and causes the general flooding 
of the region. 

The mountains provide good hunting for those who 
live nearby, but Phenix Village lies too far off to supply 
any enthusiasts of the sport. 

The surrounding villages are all small. No single one 
has ever maintained a population of more than 2000 
people. This is due to the proximity of the entire region 
to the facilities for emigration to parts of the world 
more favorable to fortune. But the native white-haired 
fathers are always ready to explain this fact in terms 
of feng-shut.} 


PHENIX VILLAGE 


The area of the village proper, that portion of the 
land occupied by the houses, is very small,—about 
seven hundred feet wide and two thousand feet long. 
Not all the land within this area is built up; it is simply 
the extent of land within which village buildings 
occur. 

To this must be added two other areas: one plot 
lies mainly to the east and north of the village, lying 
on the bank of Phenix River above the village; the other 
is located across Phenix River on the west side of the 
village, extending to the bank of the Han River. These 
extensive plots of land comprise farming interests, 
pasture and fruit orchards. The fields contiguous to 
the village are now cut into strips that belong to the 
inhabitants of Phenix Village. What was once large 
fields, through divisions arising out of the customs of 
inheritance, is now parcelled into small areas of intensive 


1 Feng-shui is a system of beliefs in the powers of the spirits of wind and 
water to control human affairs toward good or evil. 








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THE REGIONAL SITUATION 13 


cultivation. A few private fields are in the possession 
of neighboring folk who purchased them from Phenix 
Village people; land trading is even now going on. It 
happens, therefore, that several areas belonging to 
Phenix Village families lie some distance away from 
the village. The fields across the river are rather large. 
The whole area indicated on Map 2 by the dotted lines 
east of the village is referred to as Tan Tou; it is the 
largest single area that belongs to the village people. 
Some of the fields that lie too far off to be cultivated 
conveniently by the farmers of Phenix Village are farmed 
by their former owners. In return for the labor of 
cultivation the crops are divided proportionately between 
the cultivators and the present owners. 

There is a total of one hundred and ten buildings, large 
and small, in the entire village, of which thirty shops 
make up the business section. Twenty-four of these 
(see Map 5, p. 94) are exactly the same size,—twenty-four 
feet by fifteen feet. By referring to Map 2 on page 
9 one can see how this business section lies between 
the residential part of Phenix Village and ‘‘Tan’’ Village. 
It is a market center that was deliberately created by 
the leaders of Phenix Village in 1904 in order to compete 
with “‘Tan’”’ Village, which contained a numerically 
stronger population and through which the people of 
Phenix Village had to pass when going to Choachow 
during dry weather. 

In the old days people did their marketing either in 
Chaochow or in a trade center three miles east of Phenix 
Village. In time, as a transportation point, ‘‘“Tan’’ 
Village developed a market street and carried on a 
thriving business. The patronage the latter enjoyed 
from Phenix Village rankled the leaders and in defense 
they built their own market. (See Plate III, facing p. 14.) 


14 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


The residences are congested in the northern portion 
of the village, as will be seen by a glance at Map 3. 
Around the edges of this congested section are numerous 
houses more or less isolated and of different grades of 
construction. The larger and finer houses of the wealthy 
families are situated where there was room enough for 
impressive construction. However, there are a number 
of very small houses of poor families either joined to- 
gether in twos or threes or built separately between the 
main residential section and the market. Then there are 
two more houses unusually isolated. They are found 
across Phenix River in the heart of the village lands at 
Tan Tou. One is a residence of modern construction; 
the other is a frame watch-house, where farmers take 
turns in guarding their crops from the inroads of thieves. 

There are two buildings that belong only to Phenix 
Village, of a strictly public nature. They are the village 
Temple and the Scholars Hall (Marked B and A respect- 
ively on Map 3). There are four buildings of a semi- 
public nature: the chief ancestral hall of the entire 
village but now occupied by a poor family (D on the 


map); the ancestral halls and schools belonging to. 


two different branches of the village group (E and F); 
and the small temple (C) south of the market center 
and visited by people from other villages as well. Several 
schools that existed in 1919 have since then been closed, 
so, while indicated on the map, they cannot now be 
included among the public buildings. 


It is quite apparent that there is no formal design 


or plan upon which a village develops. The distribution 
of the houses, even the location of the business street, 


is determined by such factors as competition with out- 


side people, with relatives, by inheritance of land upon 


which to build, and by social organization as found in 





PLATE III 






IV. MARKET STREET AND GATE 
TO TAN VILLAGE, DURING THE 
MID-AFTERNOON LULL 


Vv. “MAIN STREET’ 
IN PHENIX VILLAGE 
—RESIDENCES 


OF THE 


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THE REGIONAL SITUATION 15 


the family attitudes and values. The contour of the 
land plays no significant part because through the 
length and breadth of the village the land lies about 
twenty feet above Phenix River and is quite level, as 
it is in fact a flood plain. Here as elsewhere the ecology 
of this rural community rests primarily upon forces of 
competition and secondarily upon attitudes. Thus 
when a new family has arisen and funds are available, 
a new section is built from the old and in contact with 
it, so that residences string along for quite a distance, 
as seen in Illustration V, usually containing the more 
closely related members of the village. 


PATHS AND STREETS 


The different parts of the village are connected by 
roads and paths. With but two exceptions the roads 
are very primitive; they are generally of poor con- 
struction, and in constant need of repair. The business 
street is the latest and best in the village. It is reason- 
ably wide—there are no vehicles in the village—for the 
uses to which it is put. It is formed with a crown and 
paved with cobblestones. The edges slant into gutters 
formed with granite curbing along which extends about 
two feet of paved space for walking. (Illustration IV.) 
The shop-keepers have encroached upon the street by 
erecting posts as supports of sun shades; but the people 
prefer the cool shade to unobstructed streets. 

From the business section southward runs a dirt 
path to ‘‘Tan”’ Village; from it northward runs a dirt 
road, wide because constantly travelled and distinctly 
delimited by low fences of interwoven reeds to keep 
pedestrians from walking on the vegetable plots. The 
path goes along several isolated buildings but before 
it reaches the ancestral hall marked F, it is crossed with 


16 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


a small reed fence to prevent geese and pigs from wander- 
ing too far afield. The pedestrian must patiently make 
his way over this obstruction about two feet high— 
no one seems to resent it—in order to get to the village 
proper. Beyond the ancestral hall F the road turns 
several times and then goes westward to the bank of 
Phenix River where steps lead down to the water level. 
Eastward the road is intersected at several points 
connecting up different streets at the northern end of 
the village. Thus from the river as a line of communi- 
cation, the main road runs eastward, branching south- 
ward to the business section and “Tan” Village and 
northward to the congested houses in that area. 

The road from the wharf eastward is paved with 
cobblestones for six hundred feet. The streets that lie 
between the houses in the congested part are in some 
cases paved with a form of lime concrete, crowned and 
curbed as seen in [Illustration V. Such paving does not 
weather well and soon forms holes into which the water 
gathers in pools. Elsewhere the paths are paved with 
flagstones or are simply of dirt. Between the fields 
and the villages in the vicinity run crooked trails, cattle 
tracks, and footpaths. In rainy weather the people wade 
through mud and water with their heavy oiled overshoes 
and the swine wallow in the pools, grunting with delight. 

The modern pavement construction as found in 
Illustrations IV and V is a significant indication of the 
strength of the influence resulting from contact with 
Chaochow and Swatow. The type of road shown herein 
is not the native and traditional form which can be 
seen quite clearly in Illustration XV, facing page 261. 
It is similar to the main street from the station at Chao- 
chow to the heart of the city, and to the principal streets 
in Swatow. With respect to this culture trait a line 


THE REGIONAL SITUATION 17 


of transmission can be definitely traced. Roads of this 
kind were first built in Shanghai and Hongkong, later 
other coast cities like Canton, Hangchow, Foochow, 
Amoy and Swatow adopted them. Still later cities in 
the interior like Chaochow adopted the new method of 
road-building. So when recent improvements in road 
construction in Phenix Village were made, the leaders, 
having seen modern roads in Chaochow, followed the 
pattern. That it comes from the Occident is shown by 
the fact that native roads are not crowned and do not 
have curbing but are made of flagstones generally laid 
with a slant toward the center under which the drain is 
built. The old method is insanitary and is being dis- 
placed in modern reconstruction in just such ways as 
have been indicated with reference to Phenix Village. 
Such an adoption of road-building methods is seen 
to be still more significant when it is realized that roads 
are not characteristic of the South China culture complex. 
Paths predominate, for the wheel is not used as in North 
China. Even the width of the street in the Phenix 
Village business section is taken from streets built for 
the accommodation of ricksha traffic. None exist in 
Phenix Village; the street is used only by pedestrians 
carrying their loads on poles over their shoulders. Never- 
theless the street is as wide as the pattern in Chaochow. 
Throughout the rural districts surrounding Phenix 
Village there are no vehicles for transporting man or 
thing; the absence of the wheel is a prime characteristic 
of the complex of culture in these parts as its presence 
is a distinctive feature of the North. Goods are carried 
on a pole over the shoulder. There has therefore been 
no practical need for good roads. The well-to-do folk 
use the sedan-chair regularly; the carriers go barefoot 
Or wear grass sandals, so that mud and water make 


18 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 





little difference. The common people also use the chair 
on occasions of importance; otherwise they always 
walk. 

Furthermore, the lack of good roads is accounted for 
by the convenience of the waterways. The water route 
to Chaochow has been described in detail. But when 
villagers wish to go elsewhere, eastward up the small 
creek or northward up the Han or the Phenix, they 
engage small craft similar to the village ferry to Tan 
Tou or even footboats operated by a single person. 
For a boat with two sailors, the usual rate of payment 
is one dollar a day. 

Such, then, are the geographical relations of Phenix 
Village to its immediate surroundings, the characteris- 
tics of the region, the distribution of the buildings and 
their uses, the streets and paths, the lines and methods of 
transportation in which villagers secure contacts that 
influence Phenix Village. The points of significant 
contact within the village are the market center, the 
watering place at the wharf, and the streets and the 
wells. Without the village they are ‘Tan’ Village, 
the ferry boat and Chaochow city. 


CONTACTS OF VILLAGE FOLK 


The degree of contact, or conversely the amount of 
isolation, which exists in any rural community determines 
the quantity of interaction between communities and toa 
limited extent within a single community. Thus the 
visit of the writer was possible because of available 
lines of communication; his presence in the village 
stimulated talk. There was at least that much mort 
than usual because the subject of discussion and con) 
versation was additional to the regular life of the com 
munity. So also with any item of news carried into thy 








THE REGIONAL SITUATION 19 


village in any way. Reports of events happening 
elsewhere added to events within the village increase 
the quantity of stimuli to which the people react, thus 
adding to the normal quantity of interaction within the 
village, interactions with other villages, and with other 
persons. 

A quantification of contact between Phenix Village 
and the outside world should properly be broken up into 
types of contact. At present they may be classified 
in four groups: business contacts secured either in 
“Tan” Village or in Chaochow; transportation contacts 
secured incidentally to movement back and forth be- 
tween population centers; newspaper contacts; and 
letters from emigrés. These are all secondary contacts 
for most of the village people, except for the boatmen or 
the occasional person who travels to Chaochow. The 
village wife who delegates the captain of the ferry to 
buy cloth in Chaochow secures an impersonal contact 
with the seller of cloth in Chaochow. Even when the 
captain relates the news or the conversation with people 
incidental to the purchase of the cloth, the contact 
is for the wife entirely impersonal and secondary. Yet 
without leaving the village, through the services of 
the boatmen on the ferry, the village has important and 
constant contact, mainly impersonal and secondary, 
but sufficient to introduce new stimuli constantly into 
the village community. 


A CONTACT INDEX 


A measurement of contact was not possible in this 
instance. In studies such as this measurements ought to 
be made so that when a number of villages in a region 
were compared, it would be possible to rate them on a 
basis of quantity of contact. The only concrete measure- 


20 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


ments for Phenix Village could be derived by taking the 
eight boatmen who make the trip daily to Chaochow 
in relation to the total population. Thus the eight 
boatmen would have in a month a total of 240 units 
of contact, counting the whole day asa unit. Excluding 
those under fourteen as ineligible for such outside contact, 
there would be a possible total of 1338 units for the 
same period for the whole village. Dividing the latter 
into the former and multiplying by 1oo, the index of 
contact would be 17.9. The index would remain the 
same for a year period if the population did not increase. 
It will be seen later on that the population is actually 
static. 

Two corrections of this contact index should be made, 
both of which would raise it considerably. To the 
number of boatmen who each day go out of the village 
to carry on their services should be added the number 
of others in Phenix Village who go out to ‘‘Tan”’ Village 
or elsewhere. Also should be added the number of 
people who read the daily newspapers to be found in 
one of the village schools. These three totals taken 
together in relation to the whole population, say of 
fourteen years or above, would then give a more accurate 
index of contact for Phenix Village. But the figures 
for types of contact are not available so that there 
practically remains as a reliable index, taken roughly, 
the figure 18. 

This method of estimation for purposes of com- 
parison with other villages takes no account of the 
variability in importance of contact. The measurement 
of the quality of contacts can be achieved only by 
concrete tests of attitudes. Thus, for example, if a set 
of definite statements involving ideas, attitudes and 
values characteristic of the village and also coming into 


THE REGIONAL SITUATION 21 


prominence elsewhere as in Chaochow or Swatow could 
be presented to villagers, even students and teachers 
and scholars, if no one else, so as to get from them definite 
reactions, then these reactions could be studied statis- 
tically. The distribution of village attitudes toward 
these statements could then reveal modalities and 
correlations. Thus a person who reacted negatively 
to worship of village idols would also react negatively 
to old types of hats. Complexes of attitudes and values 
would thus emerge and it would then be possible to 
discover what the amounts of contact were worth to 
Phenix Village in changing complexes of attitudes from 
the traditional to the newer kinds. 

Such tests were not made because of the peculiar 
obstacles existing, but as time goes by there is every 
reason to believe that they will become possible. In 
this study the effects of the contacts described will be 
noted in a differential analysis of the changes and re- 
adjustments in the life of Phenix Village community. 

But to all such tests of quality of contact or measure- 
ments of quantity of contact there must be added for 
complete study analyses of life histories of the people 
of the village. In spite of repeated attempts to get 
certain ones at least, nothing reliable was secured. 
By analysis of life histories, letters, etc., the effects of 
the influences introduced into village life by all these 
contacts would be made significantly clear. 

Contact thus determines the static or dynamic quality 
of the rural community. No matter how unchanged 
the general social and cultural situation, new com- 
binations of people, events and cultural arrangements 
constantly arise and introduce new stimuli into more or 
less static village life. When, however, the new concepts, 
events, fashions, and practices of all kinds become very 


22 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


numerous, then the quantity of contact has a definite 
bearing upon the rapidity of change in attitudes and 
practices. The changes will vary according to the 
relation between the new suggestions brought in through 
contacts and the fundamental maintenance of the 
people. Thus many new ideas are introduced into 
Phenix Village by the emigration of many villagers 
to foreign parts. 


CONDITIONS OF CONTACT 


Contact in turn is determined fundamentally if not 
immediately by the geographical conditions. Thus 
the position of Phenix Village taken together with the 
direction of the current of Phenix River, the Han River 
and ‘“Tan’’ Village makes it inevitable that the contact 
between ‘‘Tan’’ Village and Phenix Village is more than 
between Phenix Village and other villages to the east 
of it. The path to ‘*Tan”’ Village and the other villages, 
the ferry across the Phenix River, the ferry to Chaochow 
down the Han River are the lines of communication 
through which books, newspapers, letters and gossip 
flow into Phenix Village,—lines set by geography. At 
one time, this geographic factor became so prominent 
in social opinion in Phenix Village that the leaders 
tried to overcome it by building their own market street. 
But the sand bars sometimes prevent the ferry from 
landing at Phenix Village; then social devices cannot 
completely set aside in such cases direct geographic 
influence. 


CLIMATE 


In addition to topography which sets the lines along 
which communication naturally develops in this region, 
is the factor of climate. The village lies almost under 


THE REGIONAL SITUATION 23 


the Tropic of Cancer and enjoys a genial, sub-tropical 
climate. The mean annual temperature of Chaochow, 
‘kept by the French Catholic Fathers through a period 
of years,' is 20° C. or 68° F.; that of Swatow is 19° C. 
imee.7 F. For New Orleans, U. S. A., it is 21° C. or 
69.4° F. The mean monthly temperature for Chaochow 
varies from 13° C. or 55.3° F. in January and February 
by a steady rise through March, April, May, June and 
July to 30° C. or 86° F. in August. Through the fall 
months, the temperature declines steadily from 27° C. 
for 80.3° F. in September to 16° C. or 60.4° F. in 
‘December. 

The mean temperature variability is, therefore, not 
great. According to the records for Swatow, only 
occasionally does the thermometer climb to 100° F. 
‘There is but one instance of freezing recorded in that 
city, on January 18, 1893. The winter season is mild, 
dry and generally pleasant, the mean number of rainy 
days not exceeding ten in any month. The ridges that 
environ Phenix Village are regularly capped with snow 
during the winter season and form a pleasing contrast 
to the flourishing foliage below. 

_ Owing to the slight variations in temperature, the 
people are in the habit of determining seasons more 
upon conditions of humidity and precipitation than 
upon monthly divisions as in the north temperate zones. 
For this reason both actually and in popular thought 
the summer season contrasts strongly with the winter. 
As early as April the winds shift from the northeast 
to east and southeast and the rains begin. Steadily 
these monsoons bear in from the South Sea Islands, 
Jaden with moisture, from April until the end of August, 


1Gauthier, H., S.J. La Temperature en Chine. Vols. I-III. Shanghai: 
Siccawei, 1918. 


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THE REGIONAL SITUATION 25 


a condition common throughout the extent of the South 
China coastal region. 

The mean monthly total rainfall! rises rapidly in 
April, remains almost the same during May, but advances 
again until it reaches the maximum in June, 9.44 inches, 
falls below the April mark in July, decreases slightly 
through August and September and declines rapidly 
during October. From April to August it rains nearly 
half the time. For Swatow, during the warm half of 
the year, the mean total rainfall is 1093.3 mm., while 
in the cold half, it amounts to only 416.2 mm. The 
two seasons instead of being warm and cold are really 
better designated as wet and dry. A glance at Figure 2, 
the meteorological chart, will show clearly the relation 
between the winds, the temperature and the rainfall. 

When the writer visited Phenix Village, his trip had 
been delayed several days by heavy rains characteristic 
of that period. From April to August, the monsoon 
period, is the flood season. It is interesting in this 
connection to note that the whole region in which Phenix 
Village is located is called commonly ‘‘Gwei Ho” or 
the Source of Floods. While the district is generally 
moderate and the June rainfall averaged for a period 
of years is well-nigh ten inches, it must be remembered 
that the extremes of precipitation at any one time 
would be great to create such an average. It is a char- 
acteristic of the region that rains and floods alternate 
with excessive droughts. 


FLOODS 


It happens that the upper part of the Han River and 
also of the Phenix are rather narrow. Several miles 


1Froc, Louis, S.J. La Pluie en Chine, r900-1910. Part I. Shanghai: 
Siccawei, 1912. 


26 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


just below the spot where the Phenix flows into the Han, 
mountains jut into the river. When the heavy rains 
fall on the denuded hills the water rushes into the upper 
course and, backed up by the narrow cliffs below Phenix 
Village, flood the whole region. Ordinarily the water 
level is about twenty feet below the level of the houses 
and yet one can readily detect the yellow lines in the 
rooms of village houses and on the walls of the exteriors 
that indicate the high water marks of floods. These 
floods may last from a few hours to a week depending 
upon whether they come from the Phenix or the 
Han. 

Sometimes the overflow reaches only into the fields 
when it is a boon to the farmers, for its silt enriches the 
soil. But entirely too often the Spirit of the Waters 
steps over the threshold, intrudes unbidden into the 
guest-hall, rises over tables, chairs and beds. He has 
been known even to follow the occupants up to the 
second floor and to lap his waves freely over the roofs 
of the houses. At such a time the people were forced 
to move out and live on the crest of the nearest hill 
to the north or to hire boats as temporary homes. Any 
close observer is sure to notice the yellow mud that 
tints the beautiful blackwood carved furniture. The 
most earnest efforts of a careful housewife cannot dig 
it out of the fine carvings. 

The fury of the great floods destroys many crops of 
grain or fruits, tears out the plants and rips up trees, 
sweeps away furniture and even houses and domestic 
animals, not infrequently taking its toll of human life. 
A common saying that is of the nature of a proverb in 
the village illustrates the cost of the ravages of nature: 
‘To be free from flood for three successive years would 
be to adorn our hogs with shining rings of gold.”’ 


THE REGIONAL SITUATION 27 


The geography, climate, and practice of denudation 
in fuel-gathering combine to produce a condition which 
to the villagers is ‘‘Fate’’ and must be endured with 
forbearance. There is no hope of improvement. Every 
year they gamble with nature. They sow their seed and 
risk their labor without hesitation, each time hoping that 
the scourge of blind Nature may not fall upon them. 
But rarely indeed are they spared the anguish of fruitless 
effort. Little do they realize what a few facts of forestry 
could do for them. 

The usual bounty that Nature bestows upon tropical 
and sub-tropical regions is thus torn away from the 
industrious farmers. The soil is fertile and grows crops 
with ease. It isa fine loam of a broad river bottom. The 
temperature, the moisture, the rain are all such that 
abundant crops are possible. Tantalus-like, Nature hangs 
the horn of plenty just beyond their reach. After all, 
the people and not Nature are to blame, but the village 
folk do not understand this. 

Again and again in their ignorance they have tried 
to stem the destructive flood, to keep it within the 
channels as it sweeps from the hills with its burden of 
soil. They need to realize that their own constant 
denudation of grass, sprouts, underbrush and saplings 
is the real cause of their losses by floods. They need 
to be taught reforestation as a method of effective flood 
control. The problem is not simple, however, because 
the folk of Phenix Village are not alone to blame. The 
provincial government should institute education on 
these matters in all the village schools of the region. 

The adaptation to all the other features of the natural 
environment, which the people of Phenix Village have 
achieved, has been effective except on the one point 
of preventing floods. Their failure here has caused much 


28 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


discouragement and has provided the basis for a favorable 
response to the appeals of the emigration agencies. For 
this one reason—the uncontrolled floods—the village 
community is still under the direct sway of nature and 
suffers from a deficit economy. 

Such are the fundamental conditions that create the 
stage upon which the folk of Phenix Village play their 
parts. Without trying to explain human behavior or 
social practices by mere reference to geographical and 
climatic factors, it is nevertheless important that every 
student of rural communities survey carefully the ways 
in which such factors condition the material achievements 
and the social processes and organizations. 


CUA TOR e UL 


POPULATION AND HEALTH 


The population of Phenix Village in 1919 amounted 
to six hundred and fifty. There are no statistical rec- 
ords running back to past generations. The statements 
of the villagers concerning changes in population are 
‘trustworthy only in a general way. The count given here 
‘was secured by an actual census. The field investi- 
gator has since then been keeping records of memberships 
for each small family group in the village. After ten 
or fifteen years of such record-keeping he will have data 
of great value for village leadership. 


KINSHIP AND POPULATION 


Village leaders claim some increase in population 
during the last twenty years. In proof of this, they 
point to a number of new buildings, particularly those 
added to the south of the old residential section. What 
growth has occurred has been very slow and in some years 
does not occur at all. Opinion has it that the birth 
rate increases very slightly while the death rate remains 
from year to year about the same. The fact is that 
emigration has been sufficient to offset any natural 
increase of the population of Phenix Village. A rural 
village community which is identical with a kin-group 
and located away from important transportation or 
communication points grows only indigenously by the 
ordinary operation of biological functions. A blood- 
bond group of this kind, isolated as it is, lacks the accre- 
tions to population that occur where trade adds to 


30 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 





kinship in the enlargement of a group that sooner 
or later loses its kin nexus and takes on civic character, 
Such changes in population and in the relations between 
the groups within a population have occurred in towns 
and cities like Chaochow and are found now occurring 
in ‘‘Tan’’ Village, due to its location. This has also 
occurred in Phenix Village but to an exceedingly limited 
degree. Thus in the market street, as will appear by 
a glance at Map 5, on page 94, fifteen of the shop- 
keepers are not members of the kin group occupying 
Phenix Village. Only five of all the shops are run by 
those whose names belong to the kin-group of the village. 
Between the people who have rented shops from mem- 
bers of the Phenix Village clan and the clanspeople 
themselves, there has arisen a civic relationship. The 
bond is no longer one of blood but of economic interest. 
Members of Phenix Village in sufficient numbers did 
not occupy the shops built and opened by the leaders 
of the village, so the latter rented them to applicants 
who came from outside Phenix Village. The only 
advantage the leaders secured over ‘‘Tan’”’ Village by 
building this market street lies in a greater convenience 
for purchasing and in the proceeds from the rent. The 
move created a new epoch in the history of Phents 
Village; it established civic relations in addition t 
those of kinship. The chief difference that exists ir 
the fundamental relationships of the people of Pheni 
Village and the people of Chaochow is one of degre 
arising out of the differences in amounts of population 


ORIGIN OF CIVISM 


Although these outsiders who trade in Phenix Villagi 
shops do not participate in any village control or polity 
yet their very presence makes them a factor in th 


POPULATION AND HEALTH 31 


village community through the functioning of social 
opinion in which they can join. Here is a genuine 
illustration of the earliest stages in the evolution of 
cities. There is no reason to believe that Phenix Village 
is ever likely to become a town or to enter a period of 
srowth by further migration. The fact that three of 
the shops are unrented would indicate that already the 
village has reached a saturation point for the absorption 
of outsiders. Economic competition seems to have 
reached a stage of equilibrium; there is insufficient 
demand for new goods or more goods placed conveniently 
for the villagers, to bring in more tradesmen. The 
opportunities for gain are insufficient to attract any 
new members of Phenix Village to open shops. Further- 
more, the isolation of Phenix Village would offer little 
hope that it will grow much more by immigration. 
There is a possibility that some day ‘‘Tan’’ Village 
might grow and expand to the point where it would 
reach and possibly include Phenix Village. The in- 
creasing trade down the river and the prosperity of the 
‘*Tan’”’ Village market at a junction point both suggest 
such a prognosis. If that ever happened, the civifying 
process already begun in Phenix Village would simply 
be increased and speeded up. 


BIRTH AND DEATH RATES 


At present the village population is static. From 
1917 to 1918, the only period for which there are accurate 
data by record, the birth rate and the death rate were 
equal. 

Table I shows the actual figures for births in this 
period analyzed by sex (column 2) and corrected to 
the total population (column 3) as suggested by Whipple 
in his discussion of rates of birth and death as corrected 


32 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


to significant totals... Column 4 gives the rates of 
birth for males and females as corrected to the total 
number of married people in Phenix Village. Mani- 
festly such a rate is more significant for interpretation 
of fecundity than gross rates to the total population. 
In this case such correction almost doubles the rates 
in column 3. 











TABLE I TABLE II 
BIRTH RATE FOR PHENIX DEATH RATE FOR 
VILLAGE, JULY 1917 TO PHENIX VILLAGE, JULY 
JULY 1918 1917 TO JULY 1918 
Corrected 
Corrected) to Num- Corrected 
Sex Number | to Popu- | ber Mar- Sex Number] to Gross 
Group | (Actual) jlation per} ried Per- Group | (Actual)| Death- 
1000 sons per Rate per 
1000 1000 
(1) (2) (3) (4) (1) (2) (3) 
Males io 18 33 Males 14 22 
Females 10 15 28 Females 8 1 
Total 22 34 63 Total 22 34 
EOP NC Aba PARA A SIE S180) USN oS 





Table II gives the data on the death rate during the 
same period. Column 2 gives the actual number of 
deaths by sex; column 3 corrects these to a gross rate 
for the total population of the village per 1000 persons. 
Such a correction on the basis of I000 persons makes 
comparisons of these rates with those of other places 
easier,? but it should be remembered that the total 
population of Phenix Village does not equal even 1000. 

1 Vital Statistics, Boston. : 

2 New York had in 1918 a death rate, per 1000 of total population, of 17.88; 
England of 19.8 (see Thirty-seventh General Annual Report by the Board of 


Trade, London, 1920, Vol. X, Table 6, p. CXV); Peking, of 25.8 (see Gamble, 
S., Peking. A Social Survey, p. 31, New York, 1921). 


POPULATION AND HEALTH 33 


The two tables afe placed together for ready compar- 
ison, for they are presented to show that in the one 
year under study the population of the village merely 
maintained itself. 

That this condition of similarity between the birth 
and death rates occurs regularly is possible only under 
one condition: that the numbers emigrating from year 
to year are equalled by the number returning. This 
cannot always be so for some emigrés die abroad. Phenix 
Village lies within the sphere of emigration influences, 
as will be shown in detail further on. The movements 
of village folk are more centrifugal than centripetal. 
The conclusion is, therefore, that the rates for 1917-1918 
are not typical. In order that Phenix Village maintain 
its population under conditions of emigration, natality 
must be in sufficient excess of mortality to compensate 
for the loss of emigrants who do not return. Through 
a period of years the average of those who go out would 
be slightly higher than those who return, by years, 
because of the factor of deaths abroad. 

If this analysis be correct, Phenix Village can be said 
to illustrate high fecundity. The rural villages illustrate 
this condition throughout China,—a fact long claimed 
by writers both Chinese and foreign. (Adequate sta- 
tistics are lacking to prove the matter very much one 
way or the other.) Some people claim that there is 
high infant mortality which offsets the high fecundity. 
A study of the groups in Figure 6, on page 157, shows that 
in this village and among these mother-children groups 
there are three cases with five children, six cases with 
three children, one case with two children, and four 
cases with one child. Among these thirty-seven chil- 
dren, three died before marriage. The modal size of 
group, counting the father, would be five. 


34 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


COMPOSITION OF THE POPULATION 


Analysis of the composition of the population with 
reference to age and sex distribution and the marital 
status reveals some interesting and significant facts. 
In Table III, which has been put into graphic form in 
Figure 3, the population is divided into eight ranges 


TABLE III 
POPULATION: AGE DISTRIBUTION 


Per Cent of 
Total Population 


(2) (3) 
50 8 


Age Group Number of Cases 


24 
13 


6 


25744 ae 


45-64 
65-85 
Unknown 


Total 





adapted rather to Chinese practices than to the United 
States Census. The first range in column I covers 
infancy; the second, the school age, the period during 
which betrothment usually occurs; the third, appren- 
ticeship and marriage; the fourth, the first years of 
freedom and responsibility; the fifth, 25-44, the years of 
greatest physical strength and productiveness in agri- 


POPULATION AND HEALTH 35 


culture; the sixth, 45-64, the period of middle age; and 
the last, old age. It was not possible to get the accurate 
age of every person so that a column for the ‘‘ Unknown” 
had to be entered. 

It will thus be seen in column 3 that twenty-four per 
cent of the total population are children of school age. 
The period 20-24 covers only six per cent of the people. 





FIG. 3. GRAPHIC PRESENTATION OF TABLE III 


This is to be accounted for by the fact that at this age 
migration occurs most among the men. Forty-one 
per cent of the people fall between the ages of 15 and 44, 
while twenty-eight per cent are from 45 to 85 years of 
age. The reader must not fail to note that the second 
division covers two ranges; and the last three, exclusive 
of ‘‘Unknown,”’ cover four ranges each. The modal 


36 


TABLE, IV 


POPULATION: SEX 
DISTRIBUTION 


Per Cent of 
Total 
Population 


(3) 


Number 


Sex Group Ay ae! 


(1) 


(2) 
52 


48 


TABLE V 


POPULATION: 
SEX AND AGE 





Per Cent of 
Number 
Total 
Sex Group | of Cases ; 
Population 
(1) (2) (3) 
Males 20 
and over 168 26 
Males 19 
and under 170 26 
Females 20 
and over 187 28 
Females 19 
and under 125 20 
Total 650 100 








COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


TABLE VI 


POPULATION: 
MARITAL STATUS 








Per Cent 
Group of Total 
Popu- 
lation 
(1) (3) 
Unmarriageables 30 
Marriageables 70 
Total 
TABLE VII 
POPULATION: 


MARITAL GROUPS 


Per Cent 
Marital | Number | of Total of 
Group of Cases | Marriage- 
able Age 
eee CSUN eS (3) 
Married 
Persons 364 82 
Widows 69 15 
Widowers 4 I 
Unmarried 
Persons 9 2 
Total 446 100 





POPULATION AND HEALTH 








Distribution According to Sex 
Marital Status: 
GB Widowers 






2 


~ 
XN 
& 
y 
8 
| 









a 





Be i 





Marital 
Status 


1&IP 


rls males 


8 


x (28 
fi 
a8 





Ny 
| 


FIG. 4. GRAPHIC PRESENTATION OF 
TABLES IV, V, AND VII 


ae 


age-range for the entire village would be from 15-19 
years, or thirteen per cent of the population. Forty-six 
per cent of the population are nineteen or under. Gener- 
ally speaking the adults are only slightly more numerous 


than the children. 


38 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


If the period of economic productivity in farm life be 
taken from 20 to 44 years, it is clear that only twenty- 
nine per cent, or slightly more than one-fourth of the 
population, produces the necessary income for main- 
tenance. However, some of these included in the 
twenty-nine per cent are ineffective on account of health; 
others in the range from 45-64 would still be effective 
producers as women engaged in home industry or as 
men in trade. Taking all the age-groups in relation to 
probable productiveness, it is safe to say that practically 
one-half of the population depends for support upon the 
other half. This harmonizes with the facts discovered in 
the analysis of the economic status of the various family 
units in the village, discussed under Maintenance. 

Tables IV and V show the distribution according to 
sex and age. The males exceed by four per cent. Adult 
females exceed adult males by two per cent. The excess 
of total males over total females derives from the fact 
that there are many more “‘males nineteen years of age 
and under” than females. There is no explanation for 
this difference. Many writers would suggest infanticide - 
but no proof of such a practice in this village was secured. 
On the contrary, there were many evidences of parental 
love and affection for the girls as well as the boys. 
How far the preference for boys results in greater care 
of boys as against girls in the earliest years, resulting 
in lower mortality of boys, it is not possible to say. 
Roughly the population of Phenix Village divides into 
four equal parts on the basis of sex distinctions above 
and below twenty years of age. (Table V, column 3.) 


MARITAL STATUS 


As regards marital status, Table VI divides the popula- 
tion into groups: marriageables and unmarriageables. | 


POPULATION AND HEALTH 39 


The first group includes all persons fifteen years and over; 
the second, all persons fourteen years and under. This 
division conforms to marriage practices in the village. 

Table VII analyzes further the group of marriage- 
ables on the basis of age. Only eighty-two per cent of all 
these had husbands living in 1918. There were 182 
cases of married couples. In addition there were sixty- 
nine widows and four widowers. When fifteen per cent 
of the total of marriageables are widows, it is essential 
to remember that the social opinion of the village dis- 
approves of widows marrying/a second time but offers 
no condemnation if widowers re-marry. Strictly, from 
the sociological point of view, the widows should not be 
listed as ‘‘marriageables.’’ However, in spite of public 
condemnation of re-marriage, several widows have 
entered into a conjugal status for a second time. Practi- 
cally, therefore, all widows are marriageable for no one 
knows when they might re-marry. The presence of so 
many widows in a small village like this one, indicates 
that the ordinary taboos upon re-marriage common 
throughout China are quite effective in Phenix Village. 
Marriage between widows and young persons is con- 
demned; the number of marriageable widowers is quite 
small, so that these women would have difficulty finding 
husbands even if they wanted to marry again. Espe- 
cially would this be true if conditions in surrounding 
villages resembled those in Phenix Village. 

It is interesting to note that two per cent of all per- 
sons old enough to be married had never entered into 
matrimony. It would be of sociological significance to 
know how many of these are women, but the data are 
inadequate at this point. The presumption would be 
that they are men because of the social pressure exerted 
upon women to be married and cared for. 


40 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 





Having considered the details of the composition of 
the population of Phenix Village, it will be of value next 
to describe the movements of population. 


MOBILITY OF POPULATION 


Five distinct areas of movements are to be found in 
connection with Phenix Village. The first is delimited 
by the boundaries of the village and its surrounding 
lands. Within this area the people move back and 
forth daily on their routine tasks. 

The second area includes the villages of the immediate 
region which are connected by marriage or other bonds 
of trade or fellowship. Such would be ‘‘Tan”’ Village 
and the others lying to the north and east of Phenix 
Village. 

The third would be the circle of movement by ferry 
down the river to Chaochow and intermediate points. 
Within this area one finds the first instance of definite 
migration or more or less permanent residence outside 
of Phenix Village. A number of small blood-groups 
of the same surname as that belonging to Phenix Village 
now live in Chaochow or vicinity. 

The fourth region would reach to Swatow, where 
certain members of the village now live. 

The fifth area includes foreign lands. In this instance 
two widely separated portions of the earth are involved: 
the United States and the coastal regions south of 
Kwantung and the South Sea Islands. Inasmuch as 
there has been only one instance of migration to the 
United States, terminated within three years, and 
concerning which no information is available as to 
influences exerted from it upon the village, attention 
in this study will be concentrated upon areas of chief 
significance. 


POPULATION AND HEALTH 41 


An examination of Map 1 will show which those 
areas are. Into those portions of the world indicated 
by the shading, there is a steady stream of people pouring 
from the south coastal region of China. The character- 
istics of emigration vary with the different places, so 
that the phenomena should be studied differentially. 
It is so extensive and takes away from these regions such 
large numbers of people that it becomes a subject 
worthy of detailed investigation. From certain ports 
the men move alone; from others they move with their 
wives and children. According to the consular reports 
for Swatow, the emigration agencies reported for the 
year IQII a total of 3,000,000 emigrants from the sur- 
rounding district. In 1902, fifty per cent of the emi- 
grants from Swatow went to the Straits Settlements. In 
IQII, the majority of them went to Bangkok. While 
these figures are the most recent available in authori- 
tative sources, they are not up-to-date. There is no 
reason to believe that emigration has in any way de- 
creased. The various steamship companies drive a sharp 
competition for business and in every way stimulate 
emigration. 

In fact, some of the steamers stop at certain of the 
coast cities of the South China district simply to pick up 
the hordes of passengers for distant ports in the Straits. 
When, as around Amoy, the men themselves not only go 
but take their whole families with them the passenger 
business is quite lucrative. 

This migration of the entire natural-family is indica- 
tive of a new phase of the whole phenomena of emigra- 
tion. In the earlier stages the men predominantly went 
alone. To-day, however, the fare is much cheaper on 
the steamers so that larger numbers leave their homes. 
The people observed were not departing for permanent 


42 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


residence abroad. They were moving with their hus- 
bands who were engaged to work for some months on 
plantations. 


MIGRATION OF CHINESE 


In North China, family migration has been going on 
for some time. There the people migrate from Shantung 
into Manchuria and Mongolia with the fixed intention 
of permanent residence. They aim to take up farming, 
which binds them to the new country. For this purpose 
the members of the family are Valuable assistants. At 
the present time, the social leadership in the north is 
urging the Shantung farmer, who is hard pressed for 
food and money on account of floods, to go into the 
fertile fields of the Manchurian plains. ‘This relieves 
congestion in Shantung. Colonization is one of the 
planks of the program of the International Famine 
Relief Commission.!. There is thus going on a great 
cultural invasion of the region generally north of the 
provinces of Shantung and Chihli. 

China exhibits, then, two great areas of emigration: 
the one in the north, into Mongolia and Manchuria; 
the one in the south, into the Islands and the Straits 
Settlements. Into the former, emigration has been 
always by families; into the south, it has in the past 
been by individuals but is now changing to migration in 
family groups. Previously, the emigrants in the south 
have gone alone with the intention of returning when 
fortunes were made. Now they move by families, for 
longer or shorter periods, to swell by family effort the 
family fortunes. They work as coolies in the ports to 
the south or enter business. Both conduce to temporary 


1 The writer was himself a member of the Committee on Economic Improve- 
ment and Rural Credits under the Commission during the year 1923. 


POPULATION AND HEALTH 43 


residence whereas in the north agricultural pursuits 
have encouraged permanent settlement. 

Chinese colonies are to be found throughout the areas 

shaded onthe map. They have become centers of great 
economic influence and during the recent period of 
struggle of the south against the Peking militarism, the 
Chinese emigrants of great wealth have practically 
financed the Canton Government. Most support of 
modern progressive movements in the south really 
comes from those successful emigrants in the South 
Seas. The earlier ones went into various forms of busi- 
ness until to-day some of the biggest and wealthiest 
concerns are Chinese. 
_ These colonies in the southern portions of Asia are 
not made up of many people permanently established. 
A few remain and establish households; but the core 
of these colonies comprises those who individually or 
by families move in and out. The majority when they 
emigrate do so with the intention of returning to their 
native places sooner or later. But even if they do return 
to China, for a time they have carried on services in 
distant communities and have reénforced the influence 
and prestige of those members of their race who have 
settled into permanent residence by creating families 
abroad. No one who has travelled in the Philippines or 
through the Straits Settlements has failed to note the 
presence of the Chinese immigrants, their apparent 
superiority over the native in business acumen, and the 
high position of regard and respect that some of them 
attain. Both the character and the manner of assim- 
ilation in these parts deserve detailed study by sociol- 
ogists and ethnographers, because the contacts of these 
cultures are occurring under circumstances peculiarly 
significant. 


by 


A4 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


EMIGRATION FROM PHENIX VILLAGE 


Phenix Village by its location falls within the sphere 
of influence of economic opportunity in the areas of 
immigration to the south of Kwantung. As has already 
been noted, the lines of communication between the 
village and the transportation points of Chaochow and 
Swatow are convenient. It is an easy day’s travel to 
embark on the steamer that carries the villager to Manila, 
Saigon, Bangkok or Singapore. When he arrives there, 
he finds himself among his own countrymen. 

The migrants from Phenix Village have been men who 
have departed generally alone to make their fortunes. 
In 1918 fifty-five members of the Phenix Village kin 
group lived abroad in the regions described. None of 
them have been known to intend to leave the village 
permanently, but some of them have failed to return. 
Equipped with courage, hope and their neatly bound 
bundle of bedding, they set forth with regret upon 
leaving their kin. A few, however, forget their in- 
tentions of returning to Phenix Village and when success- 
ful become citizens of their adopted country. Some 
fail through disease and death. Some give up, unable to 
cope with conditions. They pack up their simple baggage 
and, broken in spirit and homesick, seek their native 
haunts. Others, feeling that they have accumulated 
enough to satisfy their wives and parents, return to 
end their days in retired repose and receive the admira- 
tion of their kin. As age creeps upon these men, they 
are quite content to depend increasingly upon their 
sons for support. 

The causes of emigration are many. Persons do not: 
leave the village to go to distant cities for a single reason. | 
Their motives are complex. Some assume striking. 


7 
fi 
t 


POPULATION AND HEALTH 45 


importance and are consciously recognized while others 
operate unconsciously. 

Human behavior is complex and any generalizations 
about it must be based upon comprehension of its 
pluralistic composition. The explanation of individual 
behavior, therefore, requires specific differential analysis 
of the components of a complex back of any instance 
of behavior. 


WISHES OF VILLAGE FOLK 


It is definitely maintained in this analysis that no 
one goes abroad from Phenix Village because of the 
operation of any single instinct. Children do not 
emigrate. Watson! has experimentally discovered so 
far only three instincts in the very young child. These 
through social experience soon change into habits or 
become the foundations for wishes, by combination with 
cultural materials. In the growth of the self the bio- 
logical equipment, or instincts, capacities, and the like, 
are conditioned and modified by social pressure and the 
‘elements of culture that act as stimuli at the particular 
‘moments in personal history. Conditioned and changed, 
the fundamental instincts found to exist at birth become 
wishes. According to Thomas? they may be classified 
into four distinct groups, mutually exclusive. They are: 


‘I. The desire for new experience. 
2. The desire for security. 
3. The desire for response. 
4. The desire for recognition.’ 
1 Jennings, Watson, Meyer, Thomas. Suggestions of Modern Science Con- 
cerning Education, p.63. New York: 1921. 
2Thomas, W. I. The Unadjusted Girl; with Cases and Standpoint for 


‘Behavior Analysis. pp. 1-40. Boston: 1923. 
\ee® Ibsd., p.. 4. 


46 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 





Because of the possibility of confusion between the 
wish for response and the wish for recognition, it is 
better to call the former the wish for preferential per- 
sonal response and the latter the wish for dominance 
or public recognition. The former has to do with 
behavior arising out of small-group and intimate re- 
lationships, such as love or friendship behavior; the 
latter, with status and the avoidance of the feeling of 
inferiority either by compensatory effort or by psychic 
compensation.! 

Wishes underlie behavior as complexes wherein the 
components possess relative and varying significance. 
Thus ‘‘going to Chaochow’’ would be explained by 
analysis of a wish-complex in which at a particular time 
the wish for dominance might be strongest with the 
wish for new experience (incidental play) or the wish for 
personal response (meeting a son) or security (selling 
vegetables for money) present in combination. The 
wishes seldom combine in the same way twice in the 
same person. Much less are they likely to combine 
identically in different persons. It is now clear that 
any explanation of the motives for emigration can be 
achieved only by analysis of each case. This could be 
arrived at practically if one had complete personal 
histories of each emigrant. If it were possible to secure 
all the letters that passed between emigrants and the 
village relatives, much light would be thrown on these 
wish combinations. 

The fundamental statement that can be made about 
the formation of a wish complex is: while differing 
in each instance in the relative strengths of the compo- 
nent wishes, according to variations in individual heredity 
and personal experience, it always reflects in the values— 


1 Adler, A. The Neurotic Constitution. pp. 1-50. New York: 1917. 


POPULATION AND HEALTH 47 


the things wished for—involved, the ethnotic! situation 
under which the complex takes form. 

Emigration in North China can hardly be explained 
in terms of the emigration in South China, for the 
ethnotic characteristics vary greatly. Universality 
resides only in the occurrence of the wishes; the values 
or objects of wishes are ethnotic in character—results 
of past social experience in definite regional situations; 
the manner of combination of wishes in a particular 
instance of behavior varies according to the person and 
the moment of decision and the situation. Data for 
such differential and personal analysis are lacking in 
this study. The attitudes generally expressed in inter- 
views and the wishes implied can only be reconstructed 
in probable combinations. 

If sufficient life-histories of these emigrants, or series 
of letters, were available it would be possible to separate 
out definite complexes, analyze them and discover the 
modalities of recurrence. 

The most ostensible reason, and the one generally 
stressed by the village folk, is the achievement of security 

_by the improvement of the family fortunes economically. 
The pressure of living conditions is the natural spur to 
these outward movements to foreign lands. The failures 
1Ethnotic—pertaining to the culture complex as a variable function of the 
interaction between a group of people, exhibiting biological and social aspects 
and regional characteristics. It is meant to include both the processes and 

| products of such interaction. 

The term employed herein is based upon the use of the term ‘‘ethnos’’ as 
contained in Ethnos: An Investigation of the Fundamental Principles of Change 
in Ethnical and Ethnographical Phenomena,”’ S, M. Shirokogoroff. Shanghai, 
1923. (In Russian.) The superiority of the term over the word ‘‘cultural”’ 
lies in its inclusiveness. It stresses the biological and regional as well as the 
_ social elements as conditioning factors of interaction; it covers the processes 
| as well as the products. ‘‘Cultural’’ refers primarily to the products. 


/ The word “‘ethnological’’ could not be accurately used for such a meaning, 
- because it refers to the science or study, rather than to the object of the study. 


sé 


48 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


of the crops through the floods, the loss of poultry and 
animals through disease, the additional mouths that 
claim shares in the rice-pot, already divided too much, 
constitute the natural circumstances that condition 
peoples’ attitudes and help to break the bonds of village 
association. The wish for security would, then, seem 
to be fundamental motivation of emigration. 

That it is not the sole wish, however, is easily dis- 
cernible. For example, when a former emigrant re- 
turns to Phenix Village he relates in glowing words his 
experiences and good fortunes. The wealthier the 
returned emigrant may be, the more eagerly he is listened 
to. He tells what good times he has had, the ease with 
which one can make a living, and how cheaply a wife 
can be bought. He describes the unusual abilities of 
the foreign women, how they help the husband in busi- 
ness and stimulate his interest. He expands upon the 
modern port cities with their street cars, their auto- 
mobiles, their telephones, their fine houses, streets, 
parks and amusements. 

Here are wishes for new experience, personal response 
(the foreign wife), and possibly dominance (the idea of 
returning to the village able to build a fine house better 
than his cousin’s). All are clearly involved. For the 
young man, the wish for new experience might easily 
be more dominant than the wish for security. 

So, as the young farmer, disappointed and discouraged 
in his efforts, listens to these tales and thinks of his 
uncles and perhaps brothers, who are enjoying life under 
such wonderful conditions, it is small wonder he grows 
restless or decides to join their ranks at the first oppor- 
tunity. If he goes where they are, he knows he can 
depend upon them to help him to start in business or 
other work; if he fails, he can return to Phenix Village. | 


POPULATION AND HEALTH 49 





If he succeeds he will return the object of envy and 
emulation, and in every respect will enjoy superiority 
over the ‘‘rice-pot-keeping-turtles’’ who lacked the 
courage to break away. 

Sometimes the young farmer, himself unaffected by 
the stories, becomes a victim of filial piety. The aged 
parents, lacking the comforts they see others enjoy, 
urge or sometimes compel him to seek their support 
where it is more sure. The ideals of forty centuries 
are the very core of his being; he cannot refuse. He 
leaves to take up the struggle; and the parents watch 
for the captain of the ferry to bring them news and 
money from their son. 

There is still another factor that conditions deter- 
mination to go abroad. This is neither geographical, 
racial, nor technological, but social. Crime is sometimes 
punished by banishment from the village community. 
People cut off from status in China because their com- 
munities repudiate them, suffer personal recrimination 
and public aspersion. It is really a kindness then that 
the village folk bestow upon their criminals when they 
banish them to foreign lands. There they can start 
anew and achieve status in a new community, if they 
so desire. 

The bad characters of the village, the thieves, the 
adulterers, when their offenses have been discovered 
and the misdemeanors have been pardoned by those 
who were wronged, are forced to agree to leave the 
village for a certain length of time;—ten years, twenty 
years, or even for life. The severity of the punishment 
varies according to the violations of the village standards 
and the values and attitudes of the aggrieved persons. 

Most of the emigrants from Phenix Village go to 
Indo-China, Siam, and the Malay Peninsula, especially 


50 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


Singapore. In 1918, of the fifty-five living in those 
places, two were women. The emigrant men thus 
constituted as many as one-third of the total men in 
the village population. Of the two women, one went 
to join her husband; the other departed in company 
with her son. 


EFFECTS OF EMIGRATION 


But if any approximate idea of the influence that 
emigration has had on Phenix Village is to be conceived, 
it would be necessary to add to the above all those who 
from time to time have gone away and returned. The 
annual rate of departure ranges from four to ten per- 
sons; the rate of return is somewhat less, according to 
one of the village leaders. 

What are the effects of the ‘‘galloping guests,’’ as the 
‘‘rice-pot-keeping-turtles’’ call them? Most funda- 
mental is the effect upon the family. The authority of 
the father over the emigrant son is weakened. In his 
absence the son can do many things that his father 
would prohibit. The family control of sex is absent 
for the emigré; prostitution is common in port cities. 
Many of these cities add to the municipal income by 
licensing brothels on the pretext of health regulation. 


Shanghai only recently eliminated such governmental | 


collusion in vice. 
More important than sex irregularities is the viola- 
tion of marriage mores. Bigamy in China is rare; in 


all her history there are only a few cases. Social opinion | 


in Phenix Village as elsewhere condemns the taking of 


more than one ‘‘first-wife”’ or tsth. But not a few of the 
‘galloping guests’”’ disregard old conventions and marry | 
a second time. Men might purchase as many concu- | 


bines as they can afford to secure and support and still 


ie 


POPULATION AND HEALTH 51 


conform thoroughly to traditional practice. But to 
take a second legal wife by a proper marriage ceremony 
is bad. Invariably the wife married abroad is a legal 
one and considered to be of equal rank in the family 
organization with the wife at home. The emigrant 
brings her back when he returns; then she claims all 
her rights and many prerogatives besides. In fact, the 
“foreign’’ wife exerts frequently a greater influence 
within and without the family than the native wife. 
The former knows more about her husband’s business, 
has money at her disposal, is more clever because more 
experienced, and constantly assumes a status and re- 
ceives respect and honor above the latter. 

Although residence abroad develops personal inde- 
pendence which is not readily set aside upon return to 
the village, it must not be supposed that the funda- 
mental virtue of filial piety is destroyed. On the con- 
trary, most of the returned emigrés revert in time to 
traditional village attitudes and practices. Furthermore, 
at no time during their absence, unless they are criminals, 
are they free from certain forms of control, namely, 
duties to parents and elder kin. As already noted, 
filial piety is a valuable social concomitant of economic 
deficit. In fact, it is a sort of old-age insurance, for the 
parent can depend upon the filial son to maintain him 
in his decrepitude. In this case, filial piety operates 
to insure remittances home, securing the family against 
loss by sickness or the ravages of floods. 

However, attitudes acquired abroad do crop out 
and introduce new elements into the life of the village 
group. Occasional family quarrels and disturbances 
base squarely on this fact. Traditional ideals regarding 
the home, parents, kin, and so on, while preserved, 
are touched up with foreign tints. Furthermore, the 


LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
AT URBANA -CHAMPAIGN 


52 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 





tendency to sex looseness when abroad has led returned 
emigrants to break sex taboos and enter into illicit 
relations with some of the widows, of whom the majority 
belong to families of emigrants. It is openly admitted 
that sex morality is much less strictly observed now 
than it was formerly. 

On the other hand, these experiences in foreign lands, 
with the proper leadership and guidance of the people, 
will furnish resources for the development of a new 
type of village. Just now, lacking proper leadership, 
the impetus gained in emigrant experience is lost upon 
return to the village and the net effect is reversion to 
type behavior. The ideological horizon of the emigrant 
has been widened, his knowledge has been increased, 
he has experienced varieties of contacts with peoples 
and cultures. The general open-mindedness and pro- 
gressive tendencies found in South China! are due 
to just this recognition of something different which 
these returned emigrés exhibit in rural communities 
like Phenix Village. With adequate and trained leader- 
ship exerted mainly through schools, social advance 
in this part of China could be particularly rapid. 

Because the psychological effects of residence abroad 
tend to become buried in local customs and traditions, 
the more apparent consequences of emigration are 

1 This is one of the facts that produces the psychological basis for the politi- 
cal divisions and civil wars between North and South China ever since the 
failure and death of Yuan Shih Kai, when Wu Ting Fang carried the seals 
of state to Canton and there set up a progressive constitutional parliament. 
opposed to the non-parliamentary conservative and militaristic cliques govern- 
ing North China from Peking and Tientsin. The line of political division can| 
roughly be drawn along the line of the Yangtse River. : 

Other factors, social, biological and technological, are differences between 
the north and south in degree of contacts with other people, in racial types, 
and in culture fundaments. These, too, have entered into the conditioning’ 


of contrasts and conflicts of recent political history in China as they have from 
earliest time according to Chinese history. 





| POPULATION AND HEALTH 53 


economic in character. Not only does this additional 
source of income tend to compensate for the deficits 
arising out of their inability to control or prevent floods 
and other natural disasters, but actually provides the 
wealth for the expansion of village property and the 
residential quarter. New acres are bought and the means 
of maintenance fortified; new houses are built and the 
village appearance beautified. 

These are some of the effects of success but not more 
than one-tenth of the emigrants return successful. 
Many of them, while in foreign lands, are barely able 
to send back enough money to keep their families alive. 
Not a few persons are forced to live from hand to mouth, 
finally returning broken in productive efficiency, a 
charge upon their families, or dying miserable deaths 
away from home with none to burn the candles. In 
such cases, the women are forced to take up the work 
of the men and, for the support of the families, to work 
out-of-doors. 

The effects of emigration upon Phenix Village cannot 
be considered clear gain. On the credit side would be 
placed increased wealth of some and additional modes 
‘of maintenance, lessening of some superstitions and 
‘acquaintance with things new and different, open- 
mindedness and a tendency toward progressiveness; 
on the debit side would be placed the introduction of 
dysgenic elements into family practices and organiza- 
tion, lessening of respect for traditional ideals, weaken- 
‘ing of moral controls, increased sex immorality, increase 
of dependency, increase of trust in the adventure of 
fortune-hunting rather than in persistent labor under 
the home conditions, a failure to struggle to improve 
_those conditions because only the less energetic and 
capable tend to spend their lives under the home condi- 


54 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


tions; in short, a decadence of familism and a forsaken 
struggle against environment constitute the main dis- 
advantageous tendencies arising from emigration. That 
they are increasingly costly can readily be admitted; 
that they can be offset through trained village leader- 
ship wisely exerted is without question. With such 
leadership, emigration could be turned from a curse 
into a blessing. 


HEALTH AND SANITATION 


One of the first avenues for improvement in village 
life could be created by making more sanitary all parts 
of the village. But before discussing health and village 


TABLE VIII 
POPULATION: DEFECTIVES AND LEPERS 


Types Number Types Number 
Lepers 7 Deaf 2 
Insane 5 Harelip zm 
Feebleminded 2 Dumb I 
Cripples 4 Otherwise Physi- 

TALE STITT WATER ANE LTT TRAE RPE Ck hath oe 2 
Blind S 





Total 
Per Cent Total Population 





sanitation—or lack of it—it will be of interest to note 


types and distribution of infirmities recognized by the 
villagers to exist in their midst. 


Nearly five per cent of the total population are defec- | 


tive and leprous. The most important consideration | 


; 
| 





POPULATION AND HEALTH 55 


with reference to these people is that, in addition to the 
dependence they suffer because of the degree of their 
inadequacy, they suffer feelings of inferiority that 
develop in them abnormal psychic traits. Especially 
is this true of the marginal cases such as cripples, people 
with harelip, and the otherwise physically abnormal. 
They are set off from the rest of the community by their 
physical peculiarities and marked for special attention.! 

The application of scientific intelligence tests such as 
have recently been developed under the auspices of 
the Chinese National Association for the Advancement 
of Education and called the ‘‘Luh Revision of the Binet- 
Simon Intelligence Scale, Form 1: For ages three to 
adult,’’? would surely show further defectiveness in 
mental capacity. 

It was found impossible in the investigations to secure 
data that would enable the writer to generalize with 
regard to the heredity of these defects and abnormalities. 
Careful records for several generations kept in con- 
nection with the records of ancestral temples would prove 
quite useful. 

_ The diseases most frequent are malaria and dysentery, 
‘smallpox and tuberculosis. The floods and rains leave 
in their wake pools of stagnant water which soon breed 
mosquitoes. Many of the houses have large kangs filled 
with water. Some of these grow water-lilies that beautify 
the courts but also breed mosquitoes. No sooner does 
darkness fall than the air hums with the wings of swarms 
of these pests. Either one develops a callousness to 
them, constantly fans the exposed portions of his 
1Adler, A. A Study of Organ Inferiority and Its Psychical Compensation. 
| Translated by S. E. Jelliffe. New York: 1917. 

2McCall, W. A. Scientific Measurement and Related Studies in Chinese 


Education. Chinese National Association for the Advancement of Education. 
_ Peking, China. Vol. II, Bulletin No. 7, p. 8, 1923. 


56 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


body, or takes refuge behind the bed net. Under the 
circumstances, it is small wonder that malaria is common. 
The worst of it is that when people are worn out with 
fighting malaria they are ready victims of any virulent 
contagious diseases that happen along. 

Dysentery, like malaria, is a constant menace. All 
food must be cooked and water boiled to prevent it; 
but people are frequently caught. Traditional practice 
enjoins purifying water and food by heat, even when the 
people do not understand the germ theory of disease. 
They achieved this knowledge through practical 
experience. 

Epidemics of smallpox sweep through the region in 
spite of a sort of vaccination that Chinese medicine 
prescribes. The fact is that parents are frequently 
negligent and fail to exercise preventive caution before 
it is too late. 

Rheumatism and tuberculosis also threaten the com- 
fort and life of the villagers. The walls of the better 
houses are built of pounded lime and sand, which hold 
the dampness after floods and rains. (See Illustration 
XVI, facing p. 269.) This condition is very unfavor- 
able to those rheumatic or tubercular. Many of the 
homes of the poorer families have no floors except the 
damp mud. The poor people go shoeless much of the 
time. (See Illustration X, facing p. 88.) Shoes are 
soled with cloth and paper and are damp or wet much of 
the time. To offset this, some of the people of Phenix 
Village are beginning to adopt the new practice of wear- 
ing shoes with leather soles. In Chaochow and Swatow, 
shoe-shops are now offering for sale rubber shoes. These 
are good for wet weather but people are wearing them 


constantly. This is bad for the feet, for so clad in hot 


weather they perspire excessively. 





POPULATION AND HEALTH 57 


Accidents are not numerous. After floods, when 
the stairs or floors are covered with sediment, bad falls 
have occurred. Occasionally some people are drowned 
in floods. Occupational accidents occur mainly during 
the fruit-picking season; then falls from high ladders 
have resulted in bad accidents. In sugar-making, some 
inexperienced employees have had their arms caught 
between the millstones and badly crushed. These two 
occupations are the only ones considered dangerous by 
the village people. The number of accidents each year 
is very low. 


SUPERSTITIONS AFFECTING HEALTH 


Knowledge of sanitation is very limited and is based 
on tradition and superstition rather than fact. The 
villagers little realize that the seven lepers in their 
midst are horrible condemnations of their lack of sanita- 
tion. Leprosy is a disease of filth. Even in the better 
houses one can find piles of rotted refuse, pools of stagnant 
water, uncovered buckets of night soil, geese covering the 
courts and walks with their excreta; other houses may 
shelter animals such as water buffalo used in plowing, 
-or pigs. The odor of animal manure pervades the courts 
-and the surrounding rooms in such homes. Frequently 
| the square floor of the court in the ancestral hall is full 
of filth;——rotten straw and chaff, water and mud, ordure 
of poultry and animals. 
_ From the courts of each great house are built drains 
to carry off the rain water as it falls from the inner 
roofs. But they are practically useless. They are 
constructed according to the demands of necromancy; 
they are run in crooked and zig-zag courses. They 
-cannot be cleaned and so soon choke up and keep the 
‘drainage in the courts. Around all the houses, partic- 


58 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


ularly in the old and more congested part of the village, 
there are piles of refuse in the streets and alleys. These 
are attacked by the wandering pigs and rooted into the 
mud and water of adjacent pools. During the rainy 
season these places breed flies and vermin and seldom 
dry up. There are no street drains except the gutters 
built in the newer sections of the streets, described and 
illustrated above. 

Not only does necromancy make the construction of 
drains invaluable but traditional attitudes further make 
them useless: ‘‘Water is the symbol of money,’’ says 
the believer in feng-shui, ‘‘therefore you must not let 
the water in your home flow out freely.’’ The water 
does not flow out of the home nor away from the village 
streets, but disease collects the savings. 

The windows of the houses are small, for people pay 
little attention to the need of light and air in the homes. 
In the smaller houses, the homes of the poor families, 
the one room is used for every domestic need: as kitchen, 
dining-room, bedroom, ancestral hall and stable. This 
results in very unhygienic conditions. One can hardly 
expect good sanitary conditions in homes such as are 
found in the illustrations facing pages 14 and 261. 

Spitting is a common practice. One can see almost 
everywhere the expectorated material on the flagstones 
and pavements. Mothers will sometimes hold their 
children at arm’s length outside their doors and let 
them befoul the path. There are cesspools and public 
comfort stations in the village; the principal ones are 
shown in Map 3 as located near the watering place on 
Phenix Creek. Every day from these wells of night 
soil, the farmers dip out the liquid, carry buckets of it on 
each shoulder through the village to the fields and spread | 
it over the ground to fertilize the crops. These wells 


POPULATION AND HEALTH 59 


are uncovered but are surrounded by mud walls about 
three feet high so that a fair degree of privacy is secured. 

The open top of the well is not, however, equal to the 
size of the well itself. The top construction is drawn 
together to a small opening just large enough to admit 
buckets for extracting the night soil. This device, which 
has not been seen by the writer anywhere else in China, 
is more for protection to children than for sanitary 
purposes. 

There are several water wells in the village. The one 
located in front of the ancestral hall marked D on Map 
3, is surrounded by filthy mud holes. This surface 
water drains into the well and pollutes the water. Some 
of the finer and better houses have their private wells. 
But even though these are capped with stone, they are 
not lined to prevent the seepage into them of befouled 
surface drainage. Some of the village women draw their 
water from Phenix River just where others may be 
washing clothes or the toilet buckets. Inasmuch as 
every drop of water that is consumed by people is first 
boiled, such practices are not dangerous to health. 
Although the health conditions in the village are thus 
‘seen to be bad, they are really typical of rural villages 
throughout China. In fact, Phenix Village would not 
compare unfavorably with some rural slum villages in 
America. And yet, the open country life with its sun- 
shine and fresh air is far superior to urban life. There 
may not be so much mud, but filth is found in every 
nook and corner of the city without the sunshine and 
air to offset the effects of insanitary conditions. 

The lack of sanitation in Phenix Village comes first 
from ignorance of the value of public sanitation and 
‘second, from carelessness. Health education should 
be an important part of the child’s training in the schools. 







60 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 





PERSONAL HYGIENE 


Personal hygiene correlates directly with economic 
status. The people in the better homes are cleaner 
in every way; the dirtiest person is the caretaker of 
the village temple, an opium addict. And yet in the 
one-room homes there are unmistakable signs of some 
appreciation of cleanliness. There are brooms and 
the floors are swept clean of loose refuse, but the refuse 
is thrown out before the entrance. There is a higher 
sense of private sanitation than of public. Otherwise 
the people who live in the better homes where the 
surroundings are clean and attractive would exert every 
effort to clean up the bad spots of the village. The 
attitude of the people to public sanitation is one of 
indifference. 

There are no public bath-houses such as are found in 
every town and city in China. The people when they 
bathe do so at home by using small tubs about two feet 
in diameter and six inches deep. The boys in the summer 
season bathe by swimming in the river. 

That the lads do not bathe frequently enough is 
shown by the ulcers they carry on their legs. Many 
of the adults have the scars of ulcerous sores now healed. 
The boys who have such sores show no knowledge about 
caring for them. They have been observed to rub these 
spots with their hands and then to handle food. 

There is one man who has the reputation of being 
a doctor. Most curative effort is exercised by the house- 
wives themselves. Whenever the opportunity offers, 
the women go out into the fields and on the hills to collect 
medicinal herbs with which they manufacture salves 
and medicines. 

Under such conditions do the folk of Phenix Village 
live. They are quite unaware of the many simple ways 


ee 


POPULATION AND HEALTH 61 


in which the sanitation of their homes and their village 
could be improved at no expense of money but just 
of effort. The open life of the children who spend many 
hours playing in the groves and the fields builds up their 
vigor, which is their only protection against filth and 
disease. 

The gods of wind and water are hardly efficient health 
officers. They were not so conceived. The other gods 
‘of the village are not doctors or leaders in sanitation 
‘but heroes of famous battles. The village culture 
‘simply does not include concepts of health preservation 
or disease prevention. And yet health is a. recognized 
value but not in itself. The people pray to be free from 
disease so that they may have long life. The latter is 
‘the real value. Deaths and sickness are judgments of 
the gods, punishments of evil spirits, or matters of 
fate. In the minds of the people, such disasters are to 
be avoided only by boiling water and food, taking medi- 
cine, and by placating evil spirits through faithful wor- 
ship and ceremonial observance. 


CHAPTER III 


ETHNIC REEATIONSHIPS 


For the study of clan or village origins there is always 
a mine of information in the little wez or ancestral tab- 
lets which are found in every ancestral hall. Through 
these and the brief records contained on them, it is 
possible to trace kin relationships from the time the 
family began its own distinctive existence. On the basis 
of the tablets in the ancestral halls in Phenix Village and 
the traditional method of naming each generation, it 
was quite clear that, at the time of the investigations 
in I9I19, there were, counting from the most recently 
born back to the remotest ancestor who first settled 
in Phenix Village, altogether nineteen generations. 

All the records in books and on monuments agree that 
the remote ancestor of the present people in Phenix 
Village came from the province of Kiangsi in the latter 
period of the Sung dynasty (1000-1280 A. D.). He had 
been made the magistrate of the Hai-yang District, to 
which the village belongs, and his family and his de- 
scendants first lived within the city walls of Chaochow.! 


EXPANSION OF ‘CHINESE’? CULTURE 


This simple fact illustrates in a concrete way the 
method by which the Chinese rulers extended their 


1 Chaochow is an ancient governmental and literary center. It first appears 
on the maps of the Tang dynasty which immediately preceded the Sung dy- 
nasty. It was during the Tang dynasty that the sway of the central government 
ot the Chinese Empire was extended farthest south. It was a period of glorious 
prestige and military expansion. For this reason the people of the south call 
themselves the ‘‘Sons of Tang.”’ 


ETHNIC RELATIONSHIPS 63 


powers and established control over the aboriginal 
peoples of East Asia. Military conquest was followed 
up with the appointment of officials who left their homes 
to reside and rule among the aboriginals. There they 
married native women, first as concubines and later 
as legal wives, and established families wherein culture 
elements, recognized as distinctive from the aboriginal 
culture and now known as ‘‘Chinese,’’ prevailed. The 
officials thus became the founders of centers of culture 
radiation among the conquered peoples. 


Vv 


That such was the general nature of the cultural ~ 


expansion of the “‘Chinese’’ complex is attested by the 
following facts: 

1. Chinese historical accounts and Western scholars 
of Chinese history all agree that the people called 
“Chinese”’ first appeared in the upper reaches of the 
Yellow River, generally west of longitude 110° E. and 
just south of 40° latitude.! 

2. These ‘‘Chinese’’ had a distinctive culture complex 
when they first arrived, probably about the beginnings 
of the New Stone Age, which, as an economic fundament, 
was identical with the original economic fundament of 
the European culture complex.’ 

_ The chief economic elements of their culture were 
‘the plow, the wheel, cultivation of wheat and millet, 
some flocks and herds, intermittent pastoral and agricul- 
tural activities with a marked development of the 
latter under favorable conditions in the Shensi region 
of early settlement. 

: 1Li Ung Bing: Outlines of Chinese History, p. 1, Shanghai; Parker, E. H.: 
Ancient China Simplified, London, 1908; Hirth, F.: The Ancient History 
of China, New York, 1908; Terrien de la Couperie: The Early History of 
Chinese Civilization, London, 1890. 

2Laufer, B.: ‘““Some Fundamental Ideas of Chinese Culture,’’ Journal 


of Race Development, 5, 160-174; Sino-Iranica: Chinese Contributions to the 
History of Civilization in Ancient Iran, Chicago: 1919. 


COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


64 





OF THE 


CULTURE COMPLEX? 


+B] 


SHOWING THE EXPANSION 


CHINESE 


“6 


MAP NO. 4. 


The long arrow indicates 


the course of migration of the official who founded the family of 
Phenix Village when he moved from Kiangsi to Chaochow. 


Note the position of Phenix Village. 


ge 
pas 
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are 
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Sp 
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ing techn 


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B. Chinese Clay Figures. 


ire 


whom they acqu 


Prolegomena on the History 


Part I. 


1 Laufer, 
of Defensive Armor. 


1 
: 


Chicago: 1914. 


op. cit. 


2HRrom Parker, 


ETHNIC RELATIONSHIPS | 65 


(4: This technic they then utilized to conquer the 
Tungus peoples to the east and south,! thereby pushing 
the latter northward into Siberia.’ 

5. Eastward and southward movements were accom- 
panied by colonization, cultural infiltration, and amal- 
-gamation. ‘These processes are attested by the results 
of cultural and anthropological researches and by 
Chinese history. 

6. By 221 B. c. the whole of North China was brought 
-under one rule. Through conquest and the official 
infiltration incident to the collection of tribute the 
area of domination of “‘Chinese’’ culture extended from 
latitude 40° on the north to approximately 30° or just 
below the Yangtse River on the south; it extended 
from the Pacific coast to 105° E. longitude on the 
 -west.! 

7. By 221 A. D., or the end of the Han dynasty, the 
great territory south of the Yangtse River had been 
brought under ‘‘Chinese’’ control. The aboriginal 
tribes, not Tungusic in this region, were conquered 
and made to submit and render tribute first to Tsin 
-and then to the Han emperors. During the Han period 
official occupation was thoroughly established.° 

8. The whole coastal region from the mouth of the 
~Yangtse to Cochin China was inhabited by peoples of 
ancient Yueh (the aboriginal tribes) who were only 
partially brought under the control of the central 
government and only slowly assimilated to the ‘‘ Chinese’”’ 
culture. (See Map 4.) 


1Li Ung Bing. Op. cit. 
2 Shirokogoroff, S. M. Anthropology of North China. pp.109 ff. Shanghai: 


95023. 


8[bid., p. 110. 
4Parker. Op. cit. 
5 Ibid, 


66 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


9g. The coastal area and certain islands of less assim- 
ilated tribes even to-day bear witness in their language 
and cultural divergence to their aboriginal ancestry. 

In this area there are a number of dialects: Shanghai, 
Ningpo, Foochow, Amoy, Swatow, Canton, Hakka, all 
of which are so different that the people either cannot 
talk together at all or only with great difficulty. Over 
all the dialects is the official mandarin language. This 
language of the officials of the central government is 
fairly uniform throughout China and belongs to most 
people who live away from the coastal region. The 
dialects are to be considered the result of assimilation 
between the language of the mandarins and the aborig- 
inal speech. 


SOUTH CHINA CULTURE-COMPLEX 


The fundamental differences in culture elements 
between the north and the south have already been 
indicated (see page 2, Map 1). The South China 
culture-complex comprises the hoe, the buffalo, the carry- 
ing stick, the chair, the path, rice and fruit, the pig, 
as its economic elements. Yet at least two plows were 
discovered in Phenix Village, showing assimilation of 
the North China culture trait. Other cultural differences 
and similarities between Phenix Village, the South China 
region and the North China region will appear as this 
analysis proceeds. 


RACIAL RELATIONS 


The main problem for immediate consideration, — 
however,’ is of the anthropological relationships of the 
people, of, the, China coastal region in the south and 
especially of the folk of Phenix Village. Did the ‘‘Chi- 
nese’ generally push into this coastal region so that by 


ETHNIC RELATIONSHIPS 67 


the time the ancestor of this familist group established 
himself in Chaochow, the people generally were Chinese? 
Or were the city people, the literati and officials, ‘‘ Chi- 
nese,’ while the farmers and artisans were aboriginals? 
Or were the ‘‘ Chinese’’ who immigrated into the region, 
as did the ancestors of this group, amalgamated out 
of existence so that the people to-day really represent 
descendants of the aboriginals? 

This problem is greatly complicated by the fact that 
no one ,knows just what were the physical character- 
istics of the invading culture bearers whom we have 
called the ‘‘Chinese.’”’ Our hypothesis is that the 
present population of the coastal region of South China 
is primarily different from that of the north; that they 
show, however, marks of amalgamation with the racial 
types of the north; that the Phenix Village folk are more 
closely allied in physical characteristics with the people 
of the northern end of the southern coastal region than 
with those of the Kwantung coastal region. If this is 
correct, then the anthropological evidence would support 
the historical and archeological evidence that the founders 
‘of Phenix Village trace their ancestry to people of east 
‘Central China. But it must always be remembered that 
‘the problem of race is separate from the problem of 
culture. Having acquired the ‘“‘Chinese’’ culture, the 
learning and language of the central government in the 
north, that famous ancestor might still have been a 
direct descendant of aboriginals in the Central China 
district. Or, he might have belonged to racial types 
north of the Yangtse who with imperial expansion 
migrated southward in successive and expansive waves 
of official occupation. 

Whatever the racial connection of the immigrating 
ancestor, the fact remains that successive generations 


68 COUNTRY: LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 
of the men of the group married women of the local 
region. Unless we are to assume that all these women 
were themselves immigrating Chinese from the north, 
a constant stream of blood of a different type was poured 
into this familist group. The linguistic and cultural 
data point to the hypothesis that these local women 
were descendants of aboriginal types, or at least types 
different from those occupying the north of the Yangtse 
regions. There only remains to present anthropological 
evidence upon the racial types of the coastal region 
and of the people of Phenix Village. 


ESTABLISHMENT OF PHENIX VILLAGE 


Now it was not until the end of the sixteenth century, 
or the latter part of the Ming dynasty, that the present 
site—namely, Phenix Village—was chosen as a good 
place for habitation. At that time the whole kinship 
group was moved and established in its present location. 
For a period of approximately three hundred years, then, 
the descendants of the founder of the group, and the 
ancestors of the present group lived in Chaochow. The 
average number of generations a century in this case is 
3.27, so that there were about ten generations of people 
in this familist group before removal to their present 
location. This leaves about nine generations since their 
occupation of Phenix Village. 

It is interesting to note, in passing, that the time of the 
removal to the present site was a period of general move- 
ment in Chinese history. Then occurred the noted con- 
flict with the Japanese; then also began the intercourse 
with Europeans—the Portuguese and Spanish and the 
Jesuit missionaries who settled first in Kwantung Prov- 
ince. The region in which Phenix Village is located 
is one characterized by the earliest outside contacts. 


ETHNIC RELATIONSHIPS 69 





There are some places in the village that bear names 
of people other than those now occupying the hamlet. 
They are proof that there were people living here prior 
to the settlement of the place by the ancestors of the 
present group. Probably the two groups lived together 
until finally the members of the older group passed 
away. At present, with the exception of the few shop- 
keepers, all the inhabitants have the same surname and 
worship a common ancestor. 


PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS 


In an attempt to solve the problem of racial relation- 
ships of the people of Phenix Village and at the same 
time secure further evidence as to the origin of the 
group, physical measurements of fifteen of the men of 
the village were taken. They all had the surname of 
the village familist group, and as men traced their lineage 
in direct line to the ancestor. While the actual number 
of persons measured is small, the proportion to the total 
male adult population is large: one to eleven. For 
purposes of comparison seventy-seven additional per- 
sons in Swatow, Chaochow and other places were meas- 
ured. These people came from all parts of the northern 
coastal region of the province of Kwantung and include 
a number of Hakka people. Also there were measured 
in East China, Shanghai and Ningpo, one hundred 
and thirty-one cases. They were people who came from 
various parts of the province of Chekiang. — 

Altogether twenty-three different measurements of 
the body were taken in the field and recorded on cards. 
(See Appendix, Note 1.) From these were derived 
nine other absolute measurements and fifteen relative 
measurements, making a total of forty series of meas- 
urements for the determination of characteristics 


70 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


of significance in the discovery of racial types. (See 
Appendix, Note 2.) 

The body measurements were taken with three instru- 
ments, the anthropometer and two calipers, made by 
P. Hermann, Zurich, according to the list of measure- 
ments designated by the International Commission 
of Geneva in 1912.! 

In addition the color of the skin was taken on the 
basis of the color-scale of Von Luschen, Zurich. The 
point of comparison was always under the armpit where 
the sun could not strike the skin even if the person exposed 
his upper body, as is so common in summer, especially 
among coolies and artisans. Also were noted age, hair 
color and form, and the form of the nose, eye, ear and 
chin. The form of the skull, whether pentagonal or 
not, was recorded after careful examination in each 
case. The custom of shaving the head made it relatively 
easy to determine this important characteristic. 

The whole investigation was set up according to the 
plan and methods used by Professor S. M. Shirokogoroff 
in his anthropometrical studies in Shantung, Chihli, 
Manchuria, Korea, and Siberia, so that reliable com- 
parisons could be made and valid conclusions drawn 
as to racial types in the principal sections of China. 
His results have since been published under the title, 
Anthropology of North China.2 He is now supplement- 
ing his own studies in the north, these studies in the 
south, with further studies in Central China. Because 
of the close collaboration between these two sets of 
studies the results when completely set forth will con- 
stitute the first comprehensive anthropological inves- 
tigation in China. 


1 Revue Anthropologique, Nos. 7-8. Juillet-Aout, 1913. pp. 281 ff. 
2 Royal Asiatic Society (North China Branch), Extra Vol. II. Shanghai: 1923. 





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fe COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


At present, therefore, it is impossible to draw any 
valid conclusions on the basis of the data secured in 
Phenix Village. It is only possible to set forth here the 
figures for Phenix Village with certain comparisons with 
the figures for the whole group for Kwantung and for 
Chekiang. These are also set off against the figure 
or North China as supplied by Shirokogoroff. The 
Chekiang and Kwantung groups need further analysis 
than is possible here. The figures and conclusions for 
the northern groups are presented in terms of means, 
which lack reliability when taken alone without the 
original data. 

The anthropometrics for the Chinese of Phenix 
Village are given in Table IX. 

The other characteristics which help to determine 
the racial relations are as follows: The hair is black and, 
with but one exception, straight. The nose: straight, 
8 cases; concave, 4 cases; aquiline, 3 cases. The eye 
form is quiteimportant. Four types were distinguished. 
An eye with a heavy fold of skin running down along 
the inside of the eye and the nose (the Mongolian fold) 
was designated ‘‘o’’; with no such fold and with the 
inner part of the eye open as among Western peoples, 
the form was designated ‘‘3,”’ or ‘“Japanese.’’ Between 
these two extremes were two degrees, designated “1” 
aANCeo22 

The distribution of cases and forms is as follows: 


Form Cases 
re) 2 (Both 29 years old) 
I 2 (25 and 35 years old) 
2 O 
3 II (One case 27 years; others 51-66 years) 


There seems to be a correlation between age and eye 
form. The young persons invariably have the Mongolian 


ETHNIC RELATIONSHIPS 73 


fold and the old persons invariably lack it. All of those 
measured in Phenix Village who had the open eye, 
except one, were fifty-one years of age or more. Only one 
case showed the marks of the Mongolian fold up to the 
age of thirty-five. (See Illustration VII, facing page 75.) 
The age data of all the cases are as follows: 


Years Cases 

ASE Sy, Se oh ee 2 
ht) Ne 2 
Ta TE ate helo I 
PEM le dig «sls I IML Ga areas Teves te 48.9 
ey PS err I (Weaxirnliiiie ite 66 
Ap 3 Minimum 12 ote ee 25 
BEE AN whys ss I WIDE OG eet. a), Oa a 51 
OO) Ga aa 2 RIOT unre ca tee ag: 51 
“Fh 2) aa I 
MRE sae 6 5 [5) 6 I 

Total 15 


There were no peculiarities of the ear in any cases. 
The chin was noted as being prominent, straight or 
receding. On this basis the distribution is as follows: 


Form Cases 
CEs | abs TNS. hy Oa Te Lee ee 8 
ee nn cee eS le Pil i) ohio vid a a akin eh 4 
MM TEM it Ne ita!) e Sine! 5 ship asaya eae 3 


The prevalence of the prominent chin is striking. It 
gives to the face an appearance of length and strength. 
In this connection it is interesting to note that Buddhist 
art portrays most of the famous eighteen Lo Han, or 
disciples, with prominent chins, such as were common 
in Phenix Village. This seems to be a trait of the ab- 
originals of these regions, but definite conclusions must 
await further investigations. 





74 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


The distribution as to skin color is as follows: 


Color Index Cases 
ee MS Hap ade gky ie I Meéan.’ , .4%%. so) Sune 15.3 
17 RG A cas 6 Maximum... ys00ne 22 
LRG ra cy een 2 Minimum (20). eee II 
os MN eA EASE SA fi I Modes? si). ayia 17 
TOG Milena whiny a Median sc. see 16 } 
Wyre cacete eel I 
Total 14 


The figure 22 stands for a medium brown, 17 for a 
light brown, It for very slight pigmentation. The 
numbers 8 to 10 on this scale correspond to the skin 
color of North Europeans. These data conform to the 
findings of Dr. Shorokogoroff in North China, where 
he found that the so-called ‘‘Yellow Race’’ did not 
exist, certainly not on the basis of color, for the data 
in his studies and my own show variations similar to 
those among Central Europeans. 

One of the most important features is the configuration 
of the skull. Generally more or less round in North 
China, it takes on, as one goes farther south a definite 
angular form. The peak at the top and the distinct 
angles at the side form three angles. If a horizontal 
line is drawn across the base of the skull, a pentagonal 
configuration is quite clearly discerned. Among the 
fifteen cases of Phenix Village, twelve, or 80 per cent, 
had pentagonal skulls; three, or 20 per cent, had round 
skulls. The figures for South China as a whole are: 


Form Kwantung Chekiang 
Per Cent of Total Cases 
Fentavonals yon. nta eau a ee 75 36 


Not. Petitagonals, wns oe aoe 25 64 








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ETHNIC RELATIONSHIPS | 75 


It is thus seen that Phenix Village conforms closely to 
the characteristic as found in the region of its location, 
showing biological relations to. the local population. 

Such are, in general, the physical characters of the 
people of Phenix Village. Further significant relations 
between them and other groups can be worked out only 
when the results of anthropometric investigations 
in Chekiang and Kwantung provinces have been 
completely analyzed.! 

In order to make more concrete the statistics presented 
above, it is well to incorporate here two illustrations 
of men of Phenix Village. 

A glance at the front view of Illustration VII will show 
the significant features: the long eye, the absence of the 
Mongolian fold, the prominent cheek bone (zygomatic) ; 
the broad nose, heavy lips, slight hair on the face, the 
drawing in at the temples, straight stiff hair. The side 
view shows the chin, nose outline, the forehead, the 
heavy superorbital ridges, the large ear, and the bump 
on the back of the skull. 

The case shown in Illustration VIII, shows a different 
combination of characters: the short eye, the great 
distance (comparatively, of course) between the outside 
of the eye and the cheek bone, the long and narrow 
nose, the prominent chin, huge ear and pentagonal 
configuration of the head. The frontal index of this man 
is markedly lower than in the former instance,—55.34 
as against 88.12. The cephalic index of the latter is 
also very low, only 73.53. Longheadedness, small eyes, 
broad cheek bones, large ears, long and narrow nose, 
heavy jaw and prominent chin, and pentagonal skull 
sum up the significant characters that would point to 
a racial type different from that in Illustration VII. The 


1Kulp, D. H. Racial Types in South China. In preparation. 


76 COUNTRY LIVEOING SOU DHE Gr hae: 





stature of both these cases is much above the mode for 
the village, namely, 1636 mm. 

In order to see how far these illustrations are represen- 
tative of the Phenix Village group of men as compared 
with other Asiatic groups, a list of data covering these 
is here presented (Table X). All these groups are also 
compared with the figures indicated by Shirokogoroff as 
comprising the racial types he discovered in North China 
and Siberia by applying the method of interserial 
differences... These he calls Alpha, Beta, Gamma and 
Delta. The Alpha type is considered by him to be the 
‘‘Chinese’’ type, fundamental for the Chinese. 

A comparison of the means of the Phenix Village 
group with those of the other groups shows, on the basis 
of proximity, the following results: 

Stature—South China and Delta Type 
Cephalic index—South China and Beta Type 
Frontal index—South China and Alpha Type 
Nasal index—East China and Alpha Type 
Auricular index—Dahurs 
Interzygomatic—Koreans 

Internal interocular breadth—South China 
Ocular length—South China. 

The closest connection seems to be with the South 
China group. Such aconclusion rests upon a comparison 
of means only and can therefore be but tentative. The 
constant intermarriage between the Phenix Village men 
and the women of the region would further support 
such a conclusion. 

The question that remains, then, is this: Is there 
any evidence to point toward racial affinities with the 
northern Chinese? First of all, in a small group of this 
sort, where the curve of distribution cannot be smoothed 


1Op. cit., pp. 38 ff. and pp. 99 ff. 


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78 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


out, one would expect rather wide variations. Yet the 
coefficient of variation for stature is only 2.93. This 
is rather low in comparison with the coefficients of some 
of the other physical measurements. 

In height the South China group (and Phenix Village) 
comes closest to the Shantung group. This may be 
taken as a feature of similarity with the north. The 
high nasal index of Phenix Village and the medium 
frontal index point also to North China. But the 
pentagonal skull, the low ocular length, the high internal 
interocular breadth, the low auricular index, the broad 
zygoma, and the open eye all point to connections with 
peoples south of the Yangtse. The nasal index is closer 
to that of East China than to that of South China. 

According to the principles of Mendel, characters 
are inherited singly and separately. The variations in 
small groups would therefore be of great significance. 
If one analyzes the extremes of any of the characters 
and compares with types of other groups, it is possible 
to find clues as to probable connection. The tallness 
of the two cases in the illustrations points definitely to 
the North China characters; while the pentagonal 
skull of even the tall man indicates southern affinities. 

The conclusions that are possible at this point in 
the investigations are: 

1. The East China and the South China groups show 
features distinctive of any of the northern groups. 

2. The Phenix Village group shows affinities to both 
the East and South China groups and to some of the 
North China groups. 

3. The Phenix Village group correlates in the greatest 
number of characters with the South China group. 

4. The last fact would indicate a slight infusion of 
northern blood into the kinship group of Phenix Village. 


ETHNIC RELATIONSHIPS 70 


5. The biological data support the historical and 
archeological data that the ancestral line of heredity 
runs into the more northern groups of Chinese. 


LANGUAGE RELATIONS 


Philological evidences, generally unreliable as proof 
of anthropological relations or racial types, in thisinstance 
throw some light upon the problem. 

There are two types of spoken language in the district: 
the Hakka tongue and the Holo dialect. Phenix Village 
people use the latter almost exclusively. When exoga- 
mous marriages with Hakka girls bring these new brides 
into the village, they are faced with the necessity of 
learning a new language. 

Tradition has it that the Hakka—guest families— 
migrated into northern Kwantung and the region north 
of Phenix Village from the north. What place in the 
north is not specified, but they talk a language that 
possesses high affinity with the mandarin or universal 
dialect of China. To-day there are some groups not 
Hakka by blood that speak the Hakka dialect. In the 
‘Chaochow region there is a whole shizen or township 
populated by persons not Hakka but speaking that 
dialect. In seven shiens round about Phenix Village, 
Hakka is spoken. The shien in which the village is 
located is the only one in which no Hakka is spoken. 
When the Hakka people immigrated they were poor. 
The natives were prosperous and were called by the 
Hakka people, haklow, ‘‘rich.’”’ That word has now 
‘become Holo and is the name given to the dialect spoken 
by the natives of the region. 

_ The common use of the Holo dialect indicates that 
though the ancestor of the group came from the north, 


80 COUNTRY (LIFEVIN SOUTH Chin 


the assimilation of the descendants with the indigenous 
aboriginals is complete. 

In reading books the villagers use a language which 
by them is considered to be the original spoken language 
of their own ancestors. Itis neither a standard mandarin 
nor the native tongue, but a corruption of the official 
language,—which could easily have been started by 
the original ancestor—mingled with the accent of the 
latter. 

The villagers look upon the Hakka somewhat as they 
do upon foreigners because, coming into the region later 
than the ancestor of the Phenix Village group, the Hakka 
did not accept the local civilization and particularly 
did not adopt the native language. The Hakka have 
preserved their own tongue with such persistence and 
purity that even now, after centuries of residence in 
the south, they betray their northern lineage by speaking 
a language readily understood by northern Chinese. 

How far the characters of the Phenix Village group 
correlate with the Hakka people, due to intermarriage 
with them, it is not now possible to state. Through 
the kindness of the officials of a labor union in Chaochow, 
it was possible to get the measurements of a number 
of Hakka men, but these measurements and correlations 
will be published in a later study now in preparation. 

These relationships, recognized in tradition and em-| 
bedded in customary attitudes, have become the 
foundation for clan unity in Phenix Village. They are 
the set of village practices which hark back to ancestral 
lore. 

In the first place, the members of the group are bound 
together by a common worship of a common ancestor. 
There are at present two principal ancestral temples 
in the village but in front of the pond there is another 







ETHNIC RELATIONSHIPS ? 81 


which formerly was the only temple for the whole village. 
Since a split occurred and the two temples for the 
branches were erected, worship in this original ancestral 
hall occurs only when the whole village unites in remem- 
brance of the original village ancestor. (See Illustration 
XV, facing page 261.) 


| 
| 


VILLAGE UNITY 


Thus at the time of the great seasonal festivals and 
on the days sanctified to the memory of ancestors, 
‘whether male or female, all the descendants who are 
able are expected to participate in the ceremonies at 
least by their presence. The worship at the tombs in 
the village graveyard across Phenix Village river and 
other ceremonial gatherings held specifically for members 
of the village kinship group, constantly remind the people 
that they are closely related to one another. 

Besides the common observances and codperations 
growing out of ancestral worship and blood relationship, 
this clan maintains its unity and differentiation from 
other clans in the rural district by the fact that one of 
the two public temples in the village (marked B on 
Map 3) is reserved exclusively for the worship of Phenix 
Village folk, while the other temple (marked C on Map 3) 
is shared with two other villages in the immediate 
vicinity. There are also the annual processions for the 
local village gods, taken from the temples just mentioned, 
in which the villagers alone take part with respect 
and enthusiasm. 

Certain taboos also reénforce clan distinctions and 
familist unity. For example, Phenix Village prohibits 
the marriage of two persons with the same surname, 
a common taboo throughout China. But, in addition, 
it strictly prohibits a girl to marry any man who is 


82 COUNTRY LIFE VIN SOUTH CHINE 
willing to come to live in her parents’ home in Phenix 
Village. The people do not like sons adopted in this 
way by marriage. They also taboo marriage between 
a widow and a man outside the village who might be 
brought into it. Both these prohibitions aim to keep 
out men who do not belong by blood to the Phenix 
Village group and who might tend to break up the strict 
androcentric unity of the group. 

Because these taboos are not practiced by surrounding 
village groups, they serve to set off Phenix Village, 
especially in the eyes of the people of Phenix Village. 
They create village pride and solidarity. 

For example, a neighboring village family may be 
unwilling to lose its daughter by marriage, as is the 
custom in China, so they invite the betrothed husband 
to live with them. Such invitation usually occurs when 
there are no sons in the family and consequently no one 
to perform the rites of ancestral worship for that family, 
to inherit property and care for it, or to carry on the 
ancestral line. 

If the betrothed husband accepts the invitation and 
lives with his wife’s parents after marriage instead of 
with his own, he is expected to adopt the wife’s family 
name and forsake his own. Sometimes two family 
names appear on the lanterns before the main entrance. 
This simply means that the adopted son has refused 
to change his name for the family one. Practically, 
however, few men care to lose their own family names 
and so they frequently conspire to elope with their 
wives who by that time are quite ready to live wherever 
their husbands decide. Otherwise, the adopted sons 
frankly set up their families in their wives’ villages 
but under their own surnames. Such practice breaks 
into clan unity and so Phenix Village condemns it. 


ETHNIC RELATIONSHIPS 83 


It is also a common practice in villages that do not 
adhere strictly to the preservation of the clan unity, 
upon the death of a married son, to adopt, with the 
consent of the widow, someone from outside the kin- 
ship group to act as the son of the bereaved family and 
become the husband of the widow. This too is strictly 
taboo in Phenix Village. 

So do the people of the village preserve their conscious 
unity of blood relationship, maintain their line of inherit- 
ance intact, establish a feeling of superiority over sur- 
rounding villages and strengthen their own solidarity. 


CHARTER IV 


MAINTENANCE PRACTICES 


Farming is the basic industry of the region. It is 


not the extensive type found north of the Yangtse > 


River, but intensive gardening, with the hoe as the 
chief implement. Orchards and gardens surround the 
village; they are particularly large on the north, and 
east across the Phenix River. On the south and west 
there are mainly gardens with a few groves of trees 
producing fruit and nuts. 


The floods always threaten the farmer. Many times 


the waters will sweep the yams and peanuts from his 


gardens, but do not harm the trees. For this reason, | 


the people have turned primarily to the development 
of orchards, thus saving themselves from starvation 
and ruin. There is not a single farmer in ‘‘Gwei Ho” 
dependent solely upon gardening for his subsistence. 

The principal product of the district is oranges. Other 
products of major importance are, exclusive of rice 
and grains of other kinds, olives, bananas, persimmons, 
guava, plums, bamboo. These all grow above ground 
and are staple products. Cultivated to a less degree 
are sugar cane, pears, longan, loquat, walnuts, pomelo, 
lichi, pibaws, yams, peanuts, potatoes, peas, beans 
of various kinds, and berries of different types. (See 
Illustration IX, facing p. 88.) 

During the seasons of harvest of the various fruits, 
especially of plums, pears, pibaws and berries—the 
perishables—the Chaochow and Swatow markets are 
glutted and the price drops very low. Codperative 


MAINTENANCE PRACTICES 85 


‘canneries should be opened throughout the region. 
Then the products could be marketed gradually and 
the people could secure better incomes from their 
labors without increased effort. 


VILLAGE WEALTH 


In general, it can be said that the economic life of the 
people is one of ‘“‘deficit.’’! The frequent floods keep 
them from wealth, as has already been noted. The men 
depend upon their orchards, which develops in the far- 
mers a tendency to “‘wait.’”’ They get what they can 
from gardening but count it as extra to their income from 
fruits. Though they have little to spare, yet they are 
far from starvation. 

There is no doubt that scientific cultivation would 
raise the income of these people. They do not under- 
stand how to improve their crops. Their bananas are 
small and thin; their plums are bitter; their peanuts 
are dwarfed. Only the persimmons approach perfection. 
They should, through farm-demonstration work, learn 
to select seeds, graft, spray and cleanse the trees. They 
have ample time to cultivate in these ways. Only 
ignorance keeps them from producing fine crops, for 
the soil is deep and fertile alluvial deposit. 

An occasional member of Phenix Village has amassed 
enough wealth to set up in a business venture but few 
have been successful. The dream of fortune has led 
many a young man to seek it in foreign lands. Those 
who are successful there send home regularly of their 
incomes. For the region as a whole, according to the 
consular reports for Swatow, during the year I91I some 
three million emigrants in foreign parts remitted to 
their homes twenty-one million dollars. 


1Cf. Patten, S.N. The New Basis of Civilization. New York, Macmillan. 


86 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


Once in a while a fortunate villager returns home with 
wealth and foreign wife, trailing a flock of queerly- 
dressed children. It is thus quite natural that a father 
blesses a departing son. In his emigrant kin he finds 
an additional source of income. But the sons of luck 
are few. The majority of the emigrants from Phenix 
Village come back with empty hands, but richer through 
sad experience, or else in distant lands complete their 
journey to ‘‘ West Heaven.”’ 

Some of the Phenix Village men have only migrated 
as far as Chaochow or Swatow where they are engaged 
in business. The young men are clerks in stores or banks 
and the older ones are partners in stores or banks. 
That one of the heads of the families is contemplating 
industrial enterprise is shown by his request to the writer 
for information on the cost of a machine to manufacture 
shoe nails. From these persons money is sent to their 
closest kin in Phenix Village. 

In addition to their products and their emigrated 
kin, the third source of income for the families of Phenix 
Village is the ancestral property. This is established 
in the following manner: a man of wealth sets aside 
a part of his property which is not to be divided among 
nis children after his death. This provision guarantees 
that his descendants, no matter how poor they may 
become, will have the means of offering sacrifice to his 
own departed spirit, supplying him with food, money 
and other things that mean happiness in the other 
world as they do in this. Such property is considered — 
as belonging to the ancestor even though dead and not 
as owned by the group. It must be clearly distinguished 
from other property which may be owned by a familist- 
group. The income from it is known as the “ancestral 
fund.’’ Since it is usually more than what is needed to 


MAINTENANCE PRACTICES 87 


carry on ancestral worship, the living descendants take 
turns in providing the things required according to 
custom for the sacrificial ceremonies and the feast that 
follows for the representative descendants of the ancestor 
worship. Whatever surplus exists, goes to that person 
who managed the ancestral property during the year in 
order to carry on ancestral worship. Inasmuch as some 
incomes from these ancestral properties are very large, 
the surpluses are objects of interest. In fact, they may 
be the only hope for some of the poverty-stricken fami- 
lies. But they further increase the incomes of the 
wealthy, for the rich are not therefore deprived of 
their privilege in administering the ancestral estate, 
providing for ancestral worship, and sharing in the 
surplus, according to the customary principles of rota- 
tion of responsibility. 


OCCUPATIONS 


The types of occupations by which the people maintain 
themselves are not numerous. Nevertheless, it is very 
difficult to determine the exact number of people who 
follow each type. Most of them pursue several different 
occupations at different times, according to their needs 
and opportunities. 

Except for agriculture and some handicrafts, there is 
no special training for the work they do. They try one 
thing one day and leave it the next without any real 
loss to anyone. Sometimes they engage in pursuits 
not at all for commercial purposes, simply out of con- 
venience or for their own needs. Such might be making 
bamboo-ware,—baskets, etc.,—cutting wood, fishing, 
raising geese and ducks, gathering fruit. They sell the 
products of such efforts when they need money or when | 
there is a surplus over the home necessities. 


88 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


A general division of labor between men and women 
is to be found in Phenix Village. The men attend to 
business matters and do most of the field work; the 
women carry on the home industries. Practically all 
the village wives, rich or poor, engage in the spinning 
and weaving of flax into cloth for their own use. The 
whirr of the spinning wheel (see Illustration X) and 
the click of the loom are heard in every part of the 
village. The servants and slave girls may to-day sew, 
sweep, cook, cut wood, or spin, but to-morrow they may 
be hulling rice or drying it in the courtyard. (See Illus- 
tration XI.) It is thus impossible to classify the people 
according to occupations. 

Moreover, there are codperative industrial undertak- 
ings, such as sugar-manufacture or boat-sailing of a 
temporary or irregular nature. For example, a student 
who had been studying in Swatow owned a piece of 
land which was being cultivated by one of his neighbors. 
It happened that one year he grew sugar cane on it. 
At the same time the fields all round stood deep with 
cane. When it was ripe for harvest all the farmers 
interested in the making of sugar gathered together and 
formed a co6éperative society. It was not necessary for 
all to join so long as a number of people sufficient to 
launch the scheme was secured. In this case the stu- 
dent, through his ownership of the land, joined the 
corporation. Hands were hired to assist the farmers 
who knew most about sugar-making; implements and 
tools, such as mill-stones, knives, pans, and so on were 
purchased and rented. An office was built and the 
ovens constructed near the village temple by the side 
of the river. | 

This codperative society lasted for several years and 
then went out of existence. Later another similar 


x 


. 





SPINNIN 








G AND 





W 


EAV 


ING 


ELA LEY 


IX. ORCHARDS AND GARDENS 


XI 





HULLING RICE 


7 —_ _ = 
ik” 
; = 7 ; 


LIBRARY 
OF THE 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 





MAINTENANCE PRACTICES 89 


undertaking was organized but most of those engaged 
in the first enterprise refused to join the new movement. 
They gave as their reasons for refusing that the soil 
of their farms was not suited to sugar-cane or that they 
found it more profitable to dispose of their crop of cane 
as stalk cane. The broken mill-stones and the oven 
holes are still clearly visible; they are the remains of 
a codperative enterprise that disappeared the moment 
the trend of practical interest was against it. 

A list of the various occupations is presented in Table 
XI, but only where there were definite numbers of people 
following primarily certain occupations have figures 
been inserted. It really amounts to a list of maintenance 
functions. The occupations are arranged in four distinct 
groups: agricultural, industrial, professional, and mis- 
cellaneous. The activities of the “‘emigrants’’ were 
unknown. The principal occupations are starred (*). 

Some explanation of these occupations may serve to 
illuminate the manner in which the people carry on their 
economic activities. Of the two occupations listed 
under “‘agricultural,’’ gardening is predominant. By 
‘‘farmer’’ is meant all those whose greatest income 
derives from farming grains and cereals; by ‘“‘gardener’’ 
is meant those who depend upon the cultivation of 
fruits and vegetables for their income. The farmer is, 
in most cases, somewhat of a gardener too, but the latter 
occupation is for him incidental. 

Among the industrial and professional occupations 
butchering, fishing, woodcutting, sugar-making, hunting, 
landholding, and serving as a middleman are those which 
are carried on incidentally and intermittently by men. 
Similarly the women, in addition to their routine duties 
of the household, cooking, caring for the children, 
sewing, cleaning and so on, engage in broom-making, 


gO 


COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


TABLE XI 


OCCUPATIONAL DISTRIBUTION 


AGRICULTURAL 


. Farmer 


Gardener 


INDUSTRIAL 


Weaver: flax, cotton 
. Woodcutter 
. Carpenter 

. Fisherman 
. Dyer 

. Varnisher 


Cook 

Butcher 
Broom-maker 
Boatman 
Silversmith 


. Bamboo-worker 
. Beancurd maker 


(now stopped) 


Fowl, pig, cattle raiser 


Herb-gatherer 
Sugar-maker 
Mason 

Painter of pottery 
Tailor 

Hunter 


pena PROFESSIONAL 
13 *t, Merchant 
44 *2. Fruit dealer 
3. Teacher 
4. Official 
5. Preacher (Christian 
(now left) 
I 6. Doctor 
7. Priest 
2 8. Amah or servant 
4 *1o. Clerk or salesman 
6 I1. Tax-collector 
12. Fortune-teller 
13. Gambler 
9 14. Landholder 


I 15. Middleman 
MISCELLANEOUS 


I. Emigrant 

2. Beggar 

3. Nibbler 

4. Parasitic idler 


| 


Number 
of Cases 


II 
Io 


s 
3 
I 


55 


the manufacture of hemp twine, basketry, spinning, 
weaving cloth, raising geese, gathering herbs, and so on. 
The prevalence of broom-making rests upon the 


practical needs of the housewives. 


They gather the 


wire grass from the hills, make up thirty to forty brooms 
in a day, take them to Chaochow where they sell them 
for an average of one cent apiece and so add to the family 


income. 


This extra day needed for marketing their 


MAINTENANCE PRACTICES QI 


products deters them from constant pursuit of the 
industry. The village leaders would do well to establish 
‘an agency for the codperative marketing and mer- 
chandising of all home products. Such a facility would 
relieve the housewife of the trouble and yet put into 
her hands the income of her labors. It would make 
possible improvements in products, an increase in the 
number and kinds of products and the expansion of 
the markets. 

Bamboo is very common and is used in a great variety 
of ways. The shoots of the young trees of certain species 
are dug up as soon as they break through the ground 
and are sold for food. One kind, known as the “incense 
frame’’ bamboo, is not edible and is allowed to grow to 
maturity. This is cut down and sold in bulk for the 
manufacture of incense frames. One hundred catties, 
about one hundred and thirty pounds, sell for thirty 
to fifty cents, local currency. This type of bamboo is 
used in the manufacture of baskets, furniture, drying 
frames, sun shades, beams and pillars in huts, string, 
rope, fishing tackle, and so on almost ad infinitum. 

The gathering of medicinal herbs is also an occupation 
based upon the needs of the home. People regularly 
scour the nooks and crannies of the hills and mountains 
in search of the wild plants reputed to possess curative 
properties. Surplus quantities are disposed of at some- 
thing of a profit. The dangers of the wild beasts, the 
toil of climbing the hills in the scorching sun, discourage 
the hunting for ‘‘ green grass’’ as a permanent occupation. 

There are practically as many wholesale fruit dealers 
as general merchants. The former buy the fruits before 
the harvest is even ripe; sometimes, when the trees are 
only in bloom. On the basis of the quality and abundance 
of the blossoms, the dealers estimate the probable 


92 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 
quantity and quality of the crop and higgle with the 
gardener until a price per picul of harvested fruit is 
agreed upon. After the bargain has been struck the 
original owner is no longer responsible for the crop. 
Cultivation and care of the trees is then turned over to 
the fruit speculators, usually a joint stock concern 
because of the labor and finance involved—who then 
are burdened with the warnings of sun and rain. The 
realization of the profits is undertaken with all serious- 
ness, for not infrequently the speculators have borrowed 
their capital at a heavy rate of interest—ten to twenty 
per cent. Some have in this way become rich in ten 
years. Others on account of bad weather conditions, 
sluggish markets, or poor judgments in striking prices, 
lose their money and their property. These unfortunate 
ones then help to swell the stream of emigration. | 

On the other hand, the fruit dealers may, when the 
fruit is ripe or nearly ripe for harvest, dispose of the 
fruit on the tree by selling out to traders who have 
greater capital. Thus the orchards may be bought up 
by a few dealers who then are in a position to maintain 
monopoly control of the local products. When the 
weather is favorable and the competition between these 
“big stomach’”’ speculators is not so keen that they 
lose their heads and gamble blindly, they are quite 
successful. But the weather is a very uncertain factor: 
floods, typhoons, heavy fogs injure the plums; frost 
is fatal to the orange and the banana crops. Under 
unfortunate weather conditions, in the case of a single 
transfer of rights in crops, the original owner would 
have to take a discount upon the stipulated price. But_ 
when the crop is sold a second time or becomes the basis 
of “wildcat’’ speculation, the gardener is absolved 
from any such obligation. 


| 
| 





MAINTENANCE PRACTICES 93 


The gamblers listed refer to those who keep houses 
especially for gambling and opium smoking and make a 


living thereby. Their shops are located just on the 
‘northern end of the business section of the village. 
Being responsible for the good conduct of their patrons, 


they are men of physical strength, members of strong 
“branches”’ of the familist group. They always stand 
ready, with the assistance of men who have specialized 
in boxing, to quell disorder or prevent outside inter- 
ference. Among these the village parasites are found. 
They pander to everyone in the gambling house and beg 
gifts from the winners. 


THE VILLAGE MARKET 


Those who carry on single and clearly distinguishable 
occupations are the shopkeepers and clerks. Of the 
twenty-one open shops in the business section only 
five are run by merchants who are members of the Phenix 
Village familist-group. The others are rented by people 
from outside who have come in to do business with 
Phenix Village. 

These shops serve not only the people of Phenix Vil- 
lage but also those of nearby villages who need business 
service. An inspection of Map 5 reveals the general 
types of goods handled. What the people do not supply 
for themselves they purchase. To meet these needs the 
shops provide the distributive service. They procure 
the goods and offer them for sale. It is significant 
that competition works out here as everywhere. The 
more important shops have competitors. There are 
four food shops, two meat shops, two medicine shops, 
three bean curd shops, two rice shops under one mer- 
chant. Over half the shops are devoted to the sale of 
food of some kind or other. Adding to the above the 


froad fo i A \Prenix Village 


DOVE 
SHOP 


| BEAN CURD 
SHOP 


MAP NO. 5. 






CLOSED | Wo 


/ 


eRe 
3 NS 
DRY GOODS Foon +| & 
OW Ofna SHO? am NSS 
3 MEDICINE |x 8 
| fe SS 
SOG ane 
FOOD FOOD «SX 
SHOP SHOP we 
MEDICINE  8TREET PORA es 
SHOP SHOP | ~& 
GEAN CURD FOOD * g 
SHOP SHOP Us 
: aS 
CANOY PORK Ory 
SHOP SHOP . ay 
BEAN CURD coFFIN | &% 
SHOP SHOP e* 
PAPER CAKE » % 
SHOP SHOP SG 
. v 
OPIUM v) 
RICE 
SHoP +] 25 
<f 
SHOP GATE CARO eae 
3 SHOP 1 
PE ee | 
gM7 le 70 7exT village 


THE BUSINESS SECTION OF PHENIX VILLAGE 


MAINTENANCE PRACTICES 95 


candy shop and the cake shop, thirteen out of twenty- 
one deal in food. The others comprise the paper shop, 
dry-goods shop, coffin shop—the coffins are made and 
sold in this shop, sometimes to order—and the dis- 
tinctly service shops, such as barber, opium, and dye 
shops. 

The shops are an indication of the shortages of home 
production. They represent specialized services which 
the village community needs filled but which are not 
readily met by the ordinary maintenance practices. 
There are thus three areas of economic production and 
service by which this community maintains its physical 
life: (1) The home and fields; (2) the village market; 
(3) Chaochow. The more unusual needs that are not 
provided for in the shops of the village market are met 
in Chaochow where the range is great because of high 
specialization possible in urban communities. This 
kind of need is incidental. 

The successful establishment and maintenance of 
these shops in a village as small as this correlates with 
the change in family economy. There are a number of 
people in the village who no longer follow either farming 
or gardening. These folk must purchase their food 
and other products as they need them. Such people 
are the merchants and clerks, the officials and pro- 
fessionals generally, and the boatmen. The service and 
professional people patronize most regularly the market; 
the others occasionally buy there to meet the unusual 
needs of familist economy. 

Complete independence of familist economy does not 
exist either for any part of the village kin-group or for 
the village as a whole. This market mediates goods 
between the local producers and the village consumers 
of ordinary and occasional products and between the 


96 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


city producers and the rural consumers of extraordinary 
and incidental products. 

The meat shops sell pork almost exclusively and some 
dried fish. The only meat the home produces is from 
chickens or geese, but the people find it more profitable 
to sell these and buy bits of pork as they need it. 

The food shops sell vegetables, oil, and the like. This 
provides village families with a wider range of selection 
of foods for their diets than would be possible were they 
compelled by the inconvenience of markets to depend 
solely upon their own products. They grow a limited 
number of vegetables; other gardeners grow other kinds, 
and a monotonous diet is thus broken up by buying 
the different kinds of vegetables put on the market from 
other gardens. 

The work of women is so varied, so important, and 
so interesting that it is worthy of special and extended 
treatment. It is possible here only to note its chief phases. 

There is no evidence that children are exploited 
although they are engaged in incidental occupation. 
Thus they watch the geese, carry water, and assist in 
the simpler operations about the home. In general 
the children seem to have too much time for idling. 
The boys are freer than the girls because the women’s 
duties provide more opportunities for work for girls than 
men’s provide occupation for boys. The boys, and 
sometimes the girls too, do assist in picking berries or 
fruit and in watching crops. But they do not seem to 
be forced to engage in arduous field labor with the men. 


THE WORK OF WOMEN 


The women are engaged primarily in the home work 
of cooking of food. In the larger homes, such as the one 
illustrated opposite page 155, the kitchens contain the 


MAINTENANCE PRACTICES 97 
regular large Chinese stoves. These are made of brick, 
‘with two pans placed over two fire boxes, quite small and 

fed with fuel through small openings in the front. The 
pans are covered with wooden covers; one pan is for 
cooking rice—which is always steamed—and the other 
for vegetables and meat. 

Frequently, however, the housewives prefer the simple 
‘“‘wind-stove’’ or feng-lo to the large stoves. These are 
placed in the passageway convenient to the kitchen but 
outside of it in order to keep the smoke and fumes out 
of the room in which the people usually eat. These 
little stoves require less work to handle and are very 
economical. By burning charcoal in them they are 
very much cleaner than the large stoves that require 
ordinary stick-wood and underbrush as fuel. No coal 
is used for cooking. 

Other regular duties are the making of the beds, 
care of the rooms, sweeping and dusting. When these 
are attended to, the housewife embroiders or sews for 
the family. Or she may spin or weave, make twine, 
starch it and sun it, make baskets, or prepare rice for 
cooking. The latter takes much time and falls entirely 
within the women’s sphere of labor and attention. 

Quantities of rice are carried on the shoulders in 
buckets and spread out in the sun to dry. Several 
times during the day one of the women, probably a 
servant or slave girl who does the hard work in the 
wealthier families, will walk through the rice turning 
it over and over with her bare feet. The winnowing 
machine is carried into the court, the rice swept together 
and winnowed. Then it is kept in bags until it is carried 
out and hulled by pounding. Again it is winnowed, 
and when needed, is washed in water carried from the 
well or from the river, and steamed. 


98 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


Drying fruits or seeds, beans and the like occupies 
the attention of the housewife also. These they take 
from the shells, spread out on broad drying baskets in 
the sun, and keep turning them over from time to time 
until ready for storage. They are bagged and placed 
in one of the corners of the second story. 

There are no conveniences of a modern kind in any of 
these rural homes even of the best. Women must carry 
the water; take care of the candles or oil lights—to-day 
generally of Standard Oil manufacture—and carry them 
from place to place as needed. The furniture is heavy, 
especially in the older and wealthier families, and there- 
fore difficult to move about. 

And yet life is simple. It does not take long to prepare 
food for four or five people. A pot of rice, a few vegetables 
and a bit of meat. Commonly they use in all about 
sixteen different kinds of vegetables and five kinds of 
meat, fresh, salt or dried. The latter includes only 
beef, pork, goose, duck and chicken, and fish. 

The women of the poorer families are always busy 
either in the routine work of preparing food, caring 
for the home or children, or carrying on some form of 
domestic industry. But the women of the wealthier 
families find time heavy on their hands. They oc- 
cupy themselves with the lighter work of sewing and 
embroidery. 

The intellectual life of the women of all classes is 
hemmed in by such rural isolation and domestic drudg- 
eries growing out of crude household arrangements. 
The installation of radio receiving sets could be afforded 
by at least half the homes of Phenix Village and would 
greatly relieve the monotony of the wealthier homes 
and the drudgery of the poorer. A simple village 
codperative lighting system could be installed at 


MAINTENANCE PRACTICES 99 


relatively low cost. These are the only practical im- 
provements that ought to be installed as soon as possible 
in Phenix Village. Many others could be suggested, 
but they could not be worked out nor would they be 
accepted on account of the expense involved. 


THE MIDDLEMAN 


In addition to the foregoing types of work there should 
be added three more. Middlemen are very important 
functionaries in village life. They are necessary because 
of attitudes of avoidance that prevail among the villagers 
whenever any situation has possibilities of embarrass- 
ment or strain between the people involved. The desire 
to avoid “‘losing face’”’ which is the popular phrase for 
avoiding the feeling of inferiority—or stated positively, 
the wish for dominance—leads them to deal through 
intermediaries in land transactions, quarrels, betrothal 
and marriage, and the determination of prices for 
products, chickens, pigs, crops and so forth. The 
women and some farmers use the middleman for their 
important transactions of the latter sort. The middlemen 
secure commissions on such work and in the case of land 
transactions manipulate for ‘‘fat’’ commissions. 

This is not a distinct occupation in itself but rather 
a functional relationship assumed and discharged as 
occasion offers. In time certain people get the reputation 
of success through their patience and cleverness. Going 
back and forth among people in the village and outside, 
learning confidential matters in connection with the 
“deals”? they put through, they are reservoirs of news 
and information, which they frequently turn to profit. 
They are in a sense the village newspaper and feed village 
conversation with matter for gossip. 


100 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


BEGGARS 


Then there are the nibblers and beggars. The for- 
mer hang around the streets and food shops and main- 
tain themselves by snatching bits of food whenever the 
opportunity arises. 

The beggars are usually those physically handi- 
capped by heredity or disease, and are thrown upon the 
mercy of their fellows for maintenance. Their plain- 
tive wail is always most oppressing. Here is a song of 


the blind: 


Teacher, matron and maid, 
Do good and help us! 

Save us blind children, 

Poor blind children! 
Parentless children! 
Grandfather is sick, 

Homeless, poor people, are we! 


1”? 


Save us! Oh, save us, rich people 


Only the heart turned into stone by greed can refuse 
aid to these abject creatures that nauseate the sensitive 
with their filth and rags, as they pound their heads upon 
the flagstones of the street until the blood flows down 
their sightless eyes. 

In the economy of Phenix Village, the beggar in his 
own way performs a social function as definitely as the 
farmer, the teacher, the fruit dealer or the gambler. 
The devout Buddhist hopes to gain ‘‘West Heaven,”’ 
but charity and alms are the fundamental means, en- 
joined by the priests, of gaining that happiness. The 
beggar provides the object upon which the faithful 
may bestow his alms and pity and thus add to his credit 


MAINTENANCE PRACTICES IOI 


in heaven. This is the basis of the kindly feeling that 
people take in beggars, loathsome as they may be. 


In conclusion, the distinctive occupations of the village 
are agricultural,—farming and gardening, and mer- 
cantile. The mercantilists constitute a group larger 
than the agriculturists: almost one-tenth of the entire 
village population is engaged in the distribution function. 

Exclusive of the types of vocations of the emigrants 
and the ordinary duties of the housewives, there are in 
all thirty-nine definite forms of maintenance activities 
to be found in Phenix Village, comprising productive, 
service, or parasitic functions. 


LAND VALUES AND OWNERSHIP 


The wealth of the families was difficult to secure in 
detail but a few facts will throw light upon the distribu- 
tion of economic resources among the moieties of the 
village kin group. The public lands equal about 60 
mow or ten acres. They are grouped in three grades 
of land, worth different amounts. The first grade is 
worth $160 a mow; the second, $100; the third, $70. 
The income from these fields in a year of no flood equals 
from $2000 to $3000. Land in the village for building 
purposes has sold as high as $1400 a mow. 

There are three kinds of land ownership: public, the 
income from which is devoted to interests of the village 
as a whole,—schools, more public land, charity, loans 
to poor at a low rate of interest (!), building or repair 
of roads, and so on; village (sib) ancestral; family ances- 
tral. There are about twenty mow of village ancestral 
lands worth from $100 to $200 a mow. 

Theoretically there is private ownership but in reality 
the head of the moiety holds in stewardship for those 
kin dependent upon him the resources he possesses. That 


102 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


is why inheritance operates under customary law of 
equal division among surviving males. 

Public lands are not communistic. They are not 
shared equally or according to need on the basis of indi- 
viduals but of groups. They are owned collectively. 
They cannot be sold unless the signature of every male 
who holds responsibility for other members of the village 
kin-group is set in approval. 

So also the ancestral lands that support the worship 
of ancestors. Between groups—moieties or branch- 
families—there is real communism in these lands, because 
each group shares and shares alike in turn. But the 
unit of communistic usufruct is not the individual but 
the group involved in the arrangement. The head of 
the particular group—the chia-chang—possesses real 
privileges and prerogatives but they are conditioned 
and limited, as indicated above, by his familial re- 
sponsibilities and social opinion. 

The nearest the people come to communistic arrange- 
ments is in the smaller moiety and in the natural-family. 
Especially might this be true where the natural-family 
coincides with the moiety, or branch-family, as is some- 
times the case where final division of inheritance has 
been made. In such groups the blood members and 
marriage members enjoy the use of familist resources 
as need arises, according to personal wishes or conven- 
tions. But even here the authority rests in the head of 
this group and such usufruct bases upon social opinion 
and pleasure of the head. There is no more communism 
than is found in an ordinary well-organized family in 
England or America. 

In this same type of group one comes closest to real 
private ownership of property, but only of chattels. 
Houses and lands and some chattels are owned in col- 


MAINTENANCE PRACTICES 103 


lectivism or, better still, in familism. The nearest one 
can get to private ownership of chattels is in the following 
ways: 

Beds, chairs, boxes, toilet buckets, together with 
personal effects such as clothes, shoes, hats, belong to 
the husband. (These things he has either bought for 
himself or has inherited for his own use. He can 
wear them out and throw them away. But furniture 
handed down from generation to generation is merely 
held by him, not privately owned.) The wife owns her 
own clothes, shoes, ear-rings and others things brought 
with her when married. Sons own their clothing, shoes 
and boxes. Concubines enjoy the ownership privileges 
of a wife. Servants own the money they receive as 
wages, if any, and their clothes. Slaves may own clothes 
and sometimes even a small portion of land. But none 
except the head of the group may sell or otherwise dis- 
pose of any of these chattels considered as belonging to 
them without the consent of the head. 

How the rights of ownership vary under different 
familial situations will be considered in a later chapter. 
The above description applies to the normal marriage- 
group of husband, wife, possibly concubines, children 
and servants or slaves or both. 

- Practically whatever private ownership does exist 
seems to rest primarily in the head of the moiety, or 
what is called herein, the conventional-family. He enjoys 
the usufruct of all he can earn from the resources in- 
herited or otherwise gained. And yet there are limits to 
his freedom or his whims. He may gamble away the 
wealth or resources of his group or lose it through specu- 
lation or business venture, but his community condemns 
him for careless administration of his responsibilities. 
His own desires to pass on to his descendants wealth by 


104 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


which they may worship his spirit and reflect glory 
upon his memory in the village community are strong 
deterrents upon whims and personal pleasures and potent 
incentives to achieve successful stewardship. 

The economic system of Phenix Village must there- 
fore be thought of as neither communistic, private, nor 
socialistic, but famzlistic. 


POVERTY 


The familist groups and sub-groups in Phenix Village, 
which are bound together by economic as well as blood 
bonds, may be divided roughly into three classes on the 
basis of their wealth. According to the best information 
available, the groups would distribute themselves as 
follows: 


CsO0G hh CUNY he ale ahd ae 24 wits ene 18 per cent 
Pair) pics bisa atte ah set aie Ab Sy. cite 31 per cent 
BGOT ie etl Ce keer ane O58 i tee 51 per cent 

Otel ys sth Vd ct ee. ee ee te Ae i Padi (hs 100 per cent 


By ‘‘good”’ is meant well-to-do. Such groups have 
more rice and food than they need, money at interest, 
considerable income from property, or as is frequently 
the case, from fortunate kin in foreign lands. The “fair’’ 
have enough to maintain themselves independently but 
none to spare. They possess good buildings that are 
able to withstand the floods and more hands to produce 
than mouths to consume. The ‘‘poor’’ live from hand 
to mouth, at the mercy of nature and the goodwill of 
their kin. They depend largely upon the aid granted 
them by the village leaders from the income of the public 
property and upon the surplus over the cost of worship 
when they rotatively administer ancestral property. 


MAINTENANCE PRACTICES 105 


Over half the familist groups are thus compelled to 
carry on incessantly the relentless struggle for existence 
and succeed mainly by virtue of the ideals and organiza- 
tion of the familist system that really bears them along 
on a tide of mutual aid. 

A visitor walking through the streets and looking 
into the homes gets the impression of poverty and yet 
the conclusion of this analysis is that poverty is a very 
inadequate explanation of the ugliness, insanitation 
and other undesirable characteristics of the homes and 
streets of the village. The explanation is rather to be 
found in their standard of living, for there is wealth 
enough in the village as a whole to create very definite 
and needed improvements. 

The scheme of personal and social values simply does 
not include those characteristics and features which 
many people of other cultures, particularly in the upper 
classes, hold dear. Plenty of money is spent on the 
maintenance and support of those things that are deemed 
important social values, such as weddings, ceremonies, 
ancestral worship. These values relate closely to familist 
continuity and resources are always available for the 
maintenance of familist values. Only the infusion of 
new values into the traditional value-complexes through 
education, child and adult, will result in the dedication 
of familist resources to village improvements such as 
community beauty, sanitation, lighting, better housing 
and conveniences for women’s work, care of live stock 
in separate buildings, repairs and street paving, and 
renovation of historical sites, such as the scholars’ hall 
and the village ancestral temple. With no general 
increase of resources over those possessed at present 
the appearance of the village could be changed from one 
of comparative poverty to one of beauty and comfort. 


CHAT TD ina 


VILE AG ED POL ie 


Kin status, , age, wealth and leadership determine the 


~ There was a time in the history of this sib group when 
these qualifications tended to be merged both in thought 
and in practice. To-day, however, there is an increasing 
differentiation of the recognized basis of power and 
influence of the persons enjoying control. For this 
reason, the political influence rests upon traditional 
attitudes of gerontocracy and aristocracy but exhibits 
trends toward democratization. Thus among the small 
group of men who are, in various matters, leaders in 
village life, there are representatives from _ several 
moieties or branch-families. Nowadays power is being 
distributed and held by younger men. It is coming to 
rest more frankly upon a foundation of personal fitness 
and achievement. Control is shifting from the hands 
of conventional leadership to natural leadership. 


KIN STATUS 


Historically, without the proper kin status, the posses- 
sion of control was impossible. First and foremost of 
all qualities, the leader must enjoy a blood relationship 
to his followers. No person of another sib or an entire 
stranger in the community could command the trust 
and prestige and secure the loyalty of the ordinary folk. 
The blood nexus is a desideratum for leadership. This 
is a fundamental characteristic of familist polity. It 


VILLAGE POLITY 107 


‘rests upon the further fact that membership in the 
functional group bases upon kinship. 

The second aspect of kin status is sex. Only male 
members are eligible to avowed leadership in the sib. 
Male superiority is an attitude prevalent in popular 
thought for centuries. It is embodied in proverbs and 
folklore. Thus a girl is referred to as tsten djing—one 
thousand pieces of gold; a boy, as wan djing—ten 
thousand pieces of gold. Nevertheless women do rise 
by virtue of capacity or aged and widowed motherhood 
into positions of influence and even control within the 
moieties or families. Such control through influence is 
more moral than practical, for a man and not a woman 
is the representative in the group of village leaders. A 
woman’s influence cannot be denied, but it is indirect and 
mediate. According to the present leaders, there never 
has been a woman in Phenix Village who has actually 
and practically been a member of the council of 
leaders. 

Within the small or sub-groups of the kin, if the mother 
does not approve of the division of property in the case 
of the husband’s death, she can delay the division and 
practically control the affairs of the family. By virtue 
of motherhood a concubine after the death of both 
the husband and wife may hold a high position and be 
consulted by village leaders on matters relating to her 
interests. Legally, the son would have the right to 
dispose of inherited property, but social opinion would 
be against it. Jamieson! regards this practice as an 
outgrowth of the later worship of the mother by the 
sons. But filial piety apart from ancestral worship 
would adequately explain the phenomenon. 


1 Chinese Family and Commercial Law. p. 26. Shanghai: 1921. 


108 COUNTRY LIBFECIN SOUTH Gril. 


On the basis of kin status all men would qualify for 
leadership were it not for two further limitations. One 
is traditional and the other recent. 


AGE CONTROL 


The further traditional limitation is that of age. It 
has always been correlated with blood relationship and 
sex as determiners of leadership. If the aged head of 
a branch-family or moiety dies, the responsibility does 
not pass to his son but to some other aged family head 
in the village sub-group. Age per se has also been 
fortified by the attitude of filial piety (shzao), which in 
the educative processes of home, street and school is 
constantly emphasized. Filial piety involves submission 
to and respect for all those older than oneself. It is 
the basis of superordination and subordination in familist 
society. Taken together with the kin status that accrues 
from the several ceremonial functions in ancestral 
worship, actual or potential, it is the social-psychological 
correlative of familist classification of members and 


integration of authority and responsibility,—in short, 


the organization of familism. 

The general principle underlying traditional polity 
has been leadership and responsibility which descends 
to the next oldest. Yet this principle has had its limits, 
for the age of the oldest man who can be responsible 
is seventy years. 

This historical practice based upon familist attitudes 
is now giving way. At present the ages of the two 
principal leaders of Phenix Village are thirty-nine and 
forty-five years. 

The prestige of age is weakening in the rural village 


community as in the cities. Age as a social value is 
being threatened by new ideas and new types of habits | 


VILLAGE POETTY. 109 


acquired during periods of emigration or from cultural 
contacts with other peoples through newspapers, mag- 
azines, gossip and other forms of communication. It 
is also weakened by the petty jealousies and animosities 
increasingly developed among the various moieties. 
The solidarity and unity of the clan is breaking up. 
Cliques form within the village and within moieties. 
These support their own Menderes selected by them with 
reference to fitness in competitive leadership rather 
than to age. With the natural increase of population 
and of the number of moieties the tendency toward 
following this practice grows. 

A proof of this slow disintegration in Phenix Village 
is the fact that members of the village are increasingly 
seeking aid from people of other villages rather than 
from their own leaders. As co6peration weakens and 
antagonisms grow, there will arise a strengthening of 
influences on non-kinship groups. A continuation and 
expansion of this process will result finally in the dis- 
appearance of the blood nexus as a determiner of leader- 
ship. Such an eventuality is still far off in rural com- 
munities like Phenix Village. 

It is the duty of the leaders to further solidarity and 
unity and to preserve respect and loyalty among the 
village folk. This they do by administering the regular 
village and familist rites, ceremonies, processions, feasts 
and social gatherings. But sometimes corrupt leaders 
have actually been known to exploit this spirit of 
division, if thereby they may plot the robbery of public 
funds without bringing upon themselves the condem- 
nation of social opinion. 

Sooner or later such malpractices become known and 
the power of the leaders weakens through subsequent 
distrust. However, in spite of corruption and decaying 


110 COUNTRY LIFE VIN SOUTH Chins 


unity, the village familist attitudes are still operating 
strongly enough to prevent chaos and secure a practical 
codperation. Although less effective than formerly, 
the vestiges of traditional polity in Phenix Village are 
still potent enough to distinguish this kin group from 
those surrounding it. It has not yet merged its ideals 
into, nor lost its identity in the surrounding groups. 
The facts demonstrating this will appear as the analysis 
of familist organization and activities proceeds. 

After setting forth this introductory statement of the 
customary attitudes and relationships in Phenix Village, 
it is of value to set forth specifically the types of leaders 
by whom authority and local autonomy are exercised. 


TYPES OF LEADERS 


The first type of leaders to be noted is the elders. 
They are not the oldest men in the village but the oldest 
effective men. They belong to the moieties or branch- 
families that are strong numerically and, more recently, 
financially. A large number of followers in a moiety 
is a value of great significance. Thus sons and many 
of them are also social values. The subjective correlate 
of this group value of male offspring is the wish for 
worshippers of one’s departed spirit,—peace and security 
from the torment of evil spirits in the other world or 
in this. Thus does a central wish or attitude in the 


ancestral-worship complex assume political significance. 
Given natural competence the gray-haired men of each | 
moiety can readily hold positions of leadership and > 


control. 


SCHOLARS 


Titled scholars constitute the second type of leaders 


' 
f 
if 


in the village. They belong to that primary division 


VIECAGE POLLEY III 


of leaders who have attained their position through 
natural capacity and achievement. They are tradition- 
ally looked up to because scholarship and official prefer- 
ment by the hierarchy of the national government are 
social values long correlated. 

Political advance has always rested upon scholastic 
achievement since early times in China. Even during 
the Djou dynasty this was an acknowledged basis for 
official appointment and promotion. But with the 
establishment of the public examination system in the 
Sung dynasty, early customary practice crystallized 
into fixed procedure, so that entrance into official circles 
depended upon the winning of degrees. These were won 
by a series of examinations, district, provincial and 
national, in which success was awarded by the degrees 
Sui Tsai (B.A.), Dju Ren (M.A.), and Dzing S (Ph.D.), 
respectively. The examinations have always been open 
to anyone. The successful candidate is the boast and 
pride of the village. Scholastic tradition has from early 
times been strong in the sib of Phenix Village. Its founder 
was an official, and therefore by rank and occupation 
a scholar. The Scholars Hall (marked A on Map 3), 
now falling into ruins, has the marks of former use. The 
ancestral homesteads provided rooms in which the family 
scholars could pursue their classical studies or tutors 
train the children. 

With the passing of the competitive examination 
system and the establishment of modern schools and 
universities, the graduates of these newer institutions 
of middle school and college grade are recognized frankly 
as men of learning. Even to-day this village boasts 
with pride of their modern scholar who has studied with 
distinction in foreign universities. No other village in 
the region can make such a boast. So do the younger 


112 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


generations conserve the ancient ideals of the village 
and fill the places of the old-time scholars. 

There is, in fact, quite a rivalry among village groups 
in the production of recognized scholars. Each family 
tries to produce winners in the examinations for the 
highest possible degrees. No village fails to give the 
proper reception to a successful candidate upon his 
return home. He is received with public demonstration, 
féted and congratulated, particularly if such achieve- 
ments establish superiority over neighboring villages. 
It is recognized that these men of ability reflect credit 
upon their villages by virtue of their intellectual attain- 
ments, for they move among the official classes, are able 
to speak the official language, and thus form a working 
nexus between the village and the political world outside 
with which the ordinary villager seldom comes into 
contact. 

The scholar is not only the village library, the village 
teacher, the political adviser to the head men, but also 
the village representative in relation to the state and 
the state’s representative and interpreter to the village. 
He is always honored, however poor he may become, 
and, as a bearer of classical learning too deep for the 
average person to acquire for lack of ability or resources 
of time or money, has been a bulwark to the established 
state. The plain folk have been quite content to enjoy 
vicariously political emoluments. Government of the 
state has in the past been based upon precedent rather 
than law. Precedent harks back to practice and theory | 
embodied in classical formulas and dogmas thousands 
of years old and accessible only to the scholar. The 
village scholar has thus served as the interpreter of 
customary law, and, as such, may be thought of as the 
village lawyer, pleader and defender. 


VILLAGE POLITY 113 


The scholar may also be thought of as the embodiment 
of village ideals and hopes. His status has been so 
fixed, so hemmed in by conventions and taboos that 
he becomes a form of collective representation or group 
projection of a definite value complex of the village. His 
political status in the village rests, then, upon his capac- 
ities primarily but upon conventionalities secondarily. 
Both conspire to fix his position in the group and to 
determine his réle in the rural village community. 

Inevitably, then, these titled scholars, holders of 
diplomas and degrees, are called upon to settle disputes 
and are quoted as final authorities by the unlettered. 
When their influence and prestige are backed by member- 
ship in a moiety numerically strong, they become power- 
ful indeed. Both of the present leaders of Phenix Village 
are well-known scholars. 

But, as in the case of age, scholarship as a group 
value is weakening. When a scholar belongs to a weak 
moiety, or branch-family, even though a capable man, 
he has a hard time to exercise the control his abilities 
should guarantee to him. Members of the large moieties 
do not hesitate to question his decisions or refuse to 
carry out his orders if their own superiority over some 
other moiety is thereby threatened. Force of numbers 
and threat of physical action seem to be able to destroy 
at times the power of the scholar. In case of such opposi- 
tion only superior tact and persuasiveness enable him 
to retain his position of leader and secure obedience 
to his commands. Not infrequently he appeals to the 
aged men to support his decision. By the alliance of 
two significant group values, age and learning, he may 
then succeed in maintaining leadership that is very 
valuable to the community if based upon a real interest 
in public welfare. 


114 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


NATURAL LEADERS 


The second division of the leaders who occupy impor- 
tant places in village life on a basis of personal achieve- 
ment, comprises those who have won their influence by 
sheer force of personality and cleverness. They have no 
historical social values to reénforce their status. But 
they possess unusual insight into human nature and 
the manner of its operation. They exercise foresight, 
eloquence and cunning. They are able to stir up or 
quiet a mob by suggestion and example. They suffer 
no responsibility to the local officials through the opera- 
tion of customary law as do the scholars and the elders, 
for these natural leaders are not formally recognized 
as leaders. They may be thought of as practical 
politicians. 

These men may be good or bad for village welfare. 
If the formal and conventional leaders are wise, they 
utilize these men of talent as aids in the preservation 
of order and unity in the sib. But when the elders 
become mere figureheads, or the scholars belong to 
small branch-families and lack wisdom and tact enough 
to secure their codperation, they become dissatisfied, 
discontented and strive constantly to demonstrate 
the inefficiency of village leadership by stirring up 
trouble for the ‘‘old uncles”? and the ‘book-worms.” 
When ill-feeling arises between branch-families, they 
are inclined to add fuel to the flames. Their behavior 
then threatens village unity and solidarity and CO ae 
a problem of importance in village polity. j 

Sometimes these same natural leaders take advantage 
of disputes with members of neighboring villages and 
strengthen hostile attitudes by effecting open quarrels 
with neighboring groups. Such action arouses dis- 
cussion within each group involved; it thus stimulat 5 





VILLAGE POLITY 115 


opinion in Phenix Village and also furthers unity and 
solidarity when the village members draw together in 
the defense of their kin and their village pride. Never- 
theless, behavior of this kind worries the recognized 
leaders because of the complications that might arise 
with the officials of the district. 

The possibility of such inter-village altercations and 
conflicts increases in proportion to the outreach for 
personal aid to people of other groups rather than to the 
leaders of Phenix Village. Where the interest of the 
person who has thus sought external aid lies with the 
other group, the whole situation becomes greatly com- 
plicated. Then the person may invoke the aid of his 
own moiety to support him and his neighbors against 
other sections of Phenix Village. In such cases, which 
fortunately tend to be rare, the natural leader disrupts 
village unity and codperation. 

The personal ascendancy of the natural leaders is 
constantly growing. With the shift of group values from 
the traditional forms of custom, age, family status and 
scholarship toward practical success, youth, prowess 
and capacity, individualism is entering into definite 
conflict with familism. This shift is due to emigrant 
experiences as well as to the general ferment of new ideas 
and attitudes that drain in from the port city. The 
socially approved leaders are losing ground while youth 
and wits are discovering the possible extension of their 
influence and power. 

These shifts may be regarded as the beginnings of a 
readjustment in the village control elements under 
conditions of kinship and, perhaps, the sources of a 
limited type of civism. As a matter of fact, control in 
Phenix Village is more widespread than one would 
think at the first glance into the local situation. A\l- 


116 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


though there are at present two scholars who are recog- 
nized as the leaders of the village, yet on some matters 
they may have to consult as many as twenty-five other 
men. The extent of consultation and approval varies 
with different matters. Sometimes mere assentis enough; 
again it may be necessary to establish consensus through 
formal vote. The principle that determines the area 
of consensus is a simple one: consult all those whose 
interests are involved. Thus, to sell public lands the 
leaders must get the consent of all the chza-chang, or 
heads of the sub-groups of the sib. 

It is impossible to prognosticate what future forms of 
control may be evolved under this very interesting social 
situation: the shift of traditional leadership based upon 
recognized group values to the natural leadership of 
achievement, irrespective of group values of age, kin 
status and scholarship, within a distinct group whose 
members are united fundamentally by the blood bond. 
It will be of value to know if eventually without the 
development of a multi-sib village, where relations 
would exist between kin groups, a real civism could be 
evolved in just such places and groups as represented 
by Phenix Village. In other words, in a strictly blood- 
bond group, can there be a complete shift from tradi- 
tional to natural leadership? 

By virtue of the position of influence that the scholars 
have built up for themselves through thousands of 
years, it would seem that in time, with the continued 
development of present tendencies, there might grow 
up a type of leadership based upon popular suffrage as 
well as upon social opinion. In the new complex of social 
values, learning will doubtless remain, but age is sure 
to disappear as a criterion satisfactory in itself. In 
Phenix Village already the age of the effective leader- 


VILLAGE) POLITY 1 ip 


ship has been greatly lowered. Those who have control 
of the public fund and property and the business aspects 
of the village schools are not over forty-five years of age. 
Certainly, in the freedom that the members of the 
village are exercising in choosing their natural leaders and 
in questioning the authority and control of the traditional 
leaders, there is found a shift in the incidence of sov- 
ereignty. As this shift occurs, the ordinary people who 
traditionally enjoyed no sovereignty for themselves 
are taking the control more and more in their own 
hands. The natural leader must be responsive to his 
followership. This tends toward what has been called 
“‘mob rule.’’ But this type of control is a phase of 
democratic arrangements. In such an event, the mob 
will have displaced the family as the political unity. 
Familism will have given way to individualism. 


GROWTH OF CIVISM 


What complicates the problems of village polity for 
the leaders at present is the fact that there are now a 
number of people who live and operate in Phenix Village 
but who are not members of the sib. They are not real 
members of the village, because in social opinion mem- 
bership bases on blood. But they have rented shops 
and do business in the village with the village folk and 
are responsible in their conduct to the village leaders, 
so far as Phenix Village is concerned. Between this 
group of people—merchants and clerks—and the mem- 
bers of the village sib there is a relationship that can 
be called civic. 

The present case constitutes an example of the way 
civic relations grow up. The rural community under 
the operation of human wishes has created economic 
arrangements that form the basis of non-kin relationships 


118 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


of more than incidental importance. When an in- 
sufficient number of people from Phenix Village under- 
took to render services to the community by doing 
business in the village shops, others moved in and have 
been providing the economic services that the demand 
would support. Apparently the economic saturation 
point has been reached, for three shops are not rented 
by villagers or outsiders. 

What are the fundamental bases of such continued 
contact and relationship as exist between the business 
folk, not members of Phenix Village sib, and the members? 
First, there is the fact of geographic contiguity. The 
shops are within the confines of the village. Second, 
the contacts are primary and thick as compared with 
contacts between villagers and others. Rapport between 
these groups is founded in the economic relationship. 
The shops are rented by villagers to these outsiders. 
There is recognition of common interests.! The success 
of the shopkeepers is the success of Phenix Village, at 
least in a limited sense. Business means profits for the 
merchant and wages for the clerk. Profits means rent 
for the landlords, who are members of the village sib. 
The original hope was that all the shops would be taken 


1 Because of the vague connotation of this phrase ‘‘common interest”’ as 
used generally, it is best to indicate the meaning as used here. Interests may 
be either the objects of attention or the run of attention. It is confusing thus 
to employ the same term for a process and the result of a process. It seems 
wise to use “‘interest’’ as a general term to denote objects of human activity. 
The ‘‘interest’’ would correspond to ‘‘value”’ (cf. p. 46). The value is an 
interest because people are “‘interested in’’ it. They are interested in a value 
because the value—any object or idea or relationship—is conceived to satisfy 
wishes in some wish-complex. 

The wish for dominance was paramount in the wish-complex that established 
the market (cf. p. 13) in the first place. That was a wish to get the advantage 
over ‘“‘Tan’’ Village. The wish for security is discernible from two angles: 
the strictly local market keeps the villagers at home more than would be other- 
wise possible, preventing an extension of range of contacts with people not 
related by blood and lacking any other bond for coéperation; family wealth is 
kept within the family, thus making it more strong and stable. 


VILLAGE: POLITY 119 


by sib members. In that case, family money would 
remain in the familist community. The project has 
not worked out according to plan, but even the present 
arrangement is better than the old one. The familist 
community may buy of merchants not members of their 
sib, but the interest in rent depends upon an interest 
in profits. Otherwise the economic relation between 
the tenant and the village landlords would cease. The 
villagers recognize that some of their money for purchases 
remains in the village as rent. They are therefore 
interested in the success of the shopkeepers and offer 
their patronage. Rent is a village value; profits, a 
merchant’s value. The two concepts should be in this 
situation fundamentally descriptive of competition. 
But they are not strictly so for the social interaction 
here described is a service relationship that operates 
in two directions, resulting in codperation between the 
buyers and sellers, where the buyers are landlords and 
the sellers are tenants. In urban situations such a 
relation would occur very seldom. 

Now on account of the rapport arising out of the 
economic aspects of the relationship between the two 
groups—owner-and-tenant group and service-and-served 
group—communication readily arises. Village gossip 
carries on in these shops. The shopkeepers become 
familiar with village folklore and tradition and schemes 
of village values,—types of ceremonies, scholarship, 
and the like. Between the villagers and the shopkeepers 
there grows up one universe of discourse. The sib 
members and the non-sib members have acquired 
sufficiently similar meanings for the words and the 
gestures they use that they can understand one another 
‘readily. The merchants are not participants in sib 
‘ceremonies but they are spectators and commentators. 


120 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


While not eligible for leadership in village polity, they 
are important elements of that polity. They enter it 
in at least two ways: they help form social opinion, 
especially in those aspects least technical with reference 
to familist procedure; they are sources of familist income. 

One characteristic of great significance emerges from 
an analysis of this rural community. It is this—residence 
in a rural community does not necessarily correlate with 
membership in it. In this rural community membership 
implies definite rights, privileges and duties. These 
base upon kinship status and fortune. Sib members 
far away from Phenix Village participate in a real way 
in village community life, whereas residents not related 
by blood participate only indirectly in community life. 
Residence involves certain rights and duties but they are 
very limited. Genuine participation of the non-kin 
members of a familist village is very low. The merchants 
may sell goods and live in the village shops; they may 
watch ceremonies. They must pay rent and refrain 
from violating local taboos and from breaking village 
customs so far as they come in contact with them. 
Beyond that their rights and duties do not extend. They 
are thus in the community but not real parts of it. This 
high limitation of participation is characteristic of fam- 
ilistic as contrasted to civistic social organization. 


LIMITS OF VILLAGE SOVEREIGNTY 


Taking the village polity as it exists to-day in relation 
to the district and provincial governments, sovereignty! 


1 Sovereignty as here conceived is nota separate entity. It is not something 
that exists apart from persons. It is collective ascendancy over persons and 
can be distinguished into various degrees of control assuming various degrees 
of organization for the imposition of control over persons taken individually 
or as subordinate groups. It can be studied best by describing and analyzing 
forms of coercion, violent or non-violent. Much clearness in political discussion 
would be gained by a substitution of this conception for the metaphysical one 
even yet too current. D 


etatet sae: 


VILLAGE POLITY 121 


seems to reside, first, in the traditional leadership of 
the scholars and elders, and second, in a limited and 
often indirect way, in the leaders whom the people 
choose for themselves more or less deliberately. But 
since the last type of leadership has no official recogni- 
tion and the others exercise power only partially, in 
deference to social opinion, sovereignty can hardly be 
said to rest with individuals at all. 

Where then does it reside? As just indicated, practi- 
cally and immediately it is exercised by the elders and 
scholars, so far as the organized state is concerned. 
But these persons possess their political status not 
merely by virtue of personal qualifications,—always 
partially true, for the scholar must be successful and 
the elder exhibit capabilities—so much as by the rep- 
resentative character of the functions they perform. 
In Phenix Village somebody is responsible for some- 
body else who may be younger, until the gamut of 
living descendants is run. 

Phenix Village is not at all a single group. Funda- 
mentally, as already shown, there are two groups: the 
kin group and the non-kin business or service group. 
The latter breaks up into smaller groups of a merchant 
and his assistants or apprentices. The former breaks 
up into four distinguishable group arrangements. They 
are the sex-group, the economic-group, the ancestral- 
group, and the sib-group. The sizes and memberships 
of these groups are constantly varying. But each group 
has a head or a number of head persons who are respon- 
sible to that group conventionally conceived to be 
next higher within the village. 

The limit of group extent is reached in the sib-group 
which is coterminous with the village. The heads of 
the entire group are likewise responsible to other groups 


ine COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


or relations outside of the village, mounting ever higher 
and spreading ever wider until the largest extent of 
government is reached. 

It is here contended that the ultimate sovereign ele- 
ment in the general region in which Phenix Village is 
located is the sib, as such. Where the sib boundary 
and the village limits are identical, the practical political 
unit of district and provincial government can be found. 

The relations of the familist village group to organized 
central government is expressed by Mencius in the 
following way: ‘‘In governing do not injure the feelings 
of the noble houses.’’ Historically ‘‘noble houses”’ 
has come to refer not only to the realms of noble lords 
but also to the areas and affairs of kin groups wherever 
they exist. The local magistrate and provincial rulers 
think not in terms of individuals but of sibs. 

So both the elder and the scholar are recognized by 
the officials of the region or the province because the for- 
mer are held to be responsible representatives of their 
sib village community. The members of the village 
taken separately have no political status. The village 
as a whole has political status in relation to other villages 
through its representatives, who are recognized by the 
villagers and by the official hierarchy above it. This 
residence of sovereignty in the sib as a whole is distinctive 
of rural village familist communities. To operate govern- 
ment on the basis of such a unit greatly simplifies the 
manner and cost of it. How all this works out in village 
polity will appear as description and analysis proceeds. 

First, it is of value to note the fields and forms of 
control which the various leaders may separately or 
collectively exercise within Phenix Village. From the 
point of view of the ordinary person in the village, matters 
of internal polity are alone of importance. 


VILLAGE POLITY 123 


The polity of the smallest and most intimate type 
of group, the sex-group—father, mother and children 
—will be set forth in the next chapter. Where the line 
of descendants has been somewhat fractured, the sex- 
group may be also the economic-group. The composi- 
tion of this group will also be taken up more fully later 
on. The ancestral-group represents whatever fracturing 
has occurred within the sib as a whole and is usually 
made up of a number of economic-groups. The sex- 
group has been referred to earlier as the natural-family 
or the marriage-group; the economic-group is what is 
usually referred to by writers on these matters as the 
family; the ancestral-group heretofore in this study has 
been mentioned as the branch-family; the sib-group 
has been the village community exclusive of the shop- 
keepers who do not possess the same surname as the 
kin group of the village. The latter in ethnology has 
been called the clan. The term is one commonly used 
by most writers, but it is very unsatisfactory. This 
group will also be further elaborated in the following 
chapter. The significance and delimitations of the 
ancestral-group will be made clear in the chapters on 
The Family and The Sib, and Religion and the Spiritual 
Community. 

Throughout these various groups the principles of 
control hold true to form but vary in degree of applicabil- 
ity. What holds good for the sib-group is valid for 
the ancestral-group, the economic-group, and the sex- 
group with limitations that correlate with the size and 
resources and conventionality functions of these several 
groups. 

VILLAGE ADMINISTRATION 


Mention has already been made of public properties 
owned collectively by the sib-group. These are entrusted 


124 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


to the care and administration of the village leaders. 
It is their business to see that the income from them 
increases from year to year and accumulates funds from 
which the following needs may be met: 

1. Underwiting the expenses involved when the whole 
village is engaged in a lawsuit with a neighboring group. 
In case only a part of the village is entangled, an eco- 
nomic-group or an ancestral-group, that part may borrow 
money from the public funds for the prosecution of 
the litigation. 

2. Loans to the poor people for burials and loans to 
students. 

3. Rewards to scholars who have succeeded in the 
official competitive examinations or who have graduated 
from modern middle schools or colleges.! 

4. Rewards in money or honors to unmarried widows. 

5. Repairs on public buildings, ancestral graves, 
bridges and streets. 

Still other uses may be made of these funds when the 
leaders agree that the interests of the whole village 
justify such action. Generally, the uses of these funds 
from public property are not ceremonial but practical, 
in that they contribute to the maintenance of the village 
and its growth in material equipment and in prestige. 
The quasi-public or ancestral properties that rotate 
among the ancestral-groups or branch-families provide 
the funds for the village expressive, recreational, and 
ceremonial functions. It is important to understand 
the economy and polity of Phenix Village in terms 
of this distinction between practical and expressive 
activities. 

1 The present rate of grant that obtains in Phenix Village is eight bushels 
of rice a year to each person. This is niggardly compared to the grants made 


to their learned men by neighboring villages, especially in view of the scholastic 
tradition of Phenix Village. 


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VIEEAGE POLTTY 125 


In addition to the financial control of public property, 
the leaders are responsible for the conduct of all affairs 
that are deemed to affect the village as a whole. What- 
ever is not limited to the smaller group alignments 
falls exclusively under their supervision and jurisdiction. 
They constitute the school-board of the village. They 
determine the village educational matters,—the care 
of the school buildings, the provision and selection of 
instructors, the maintenance of school equipment, the 
policies and aims in instruction. In a general way they 
decide what goes into the curriculum. Members of the 
village who go away to school and who desire help 
beyond what the ancestral-group or the economic-group 
can provide, must submit complete information to the 
leaders as to cost, purposes, and the like. Not infre- 
quently, these men voice their sanction or disapproval to 
the heads of the smaller groups, of students who may be 
studying in higher schools even when no aid is sought. 
They exercise a supervisory control over all such matters 
and through the expression or crystallization of social 
opinion in the village, enforce their attitudes upon the 
students through the heads of the smaller group. Under 
the system of public subsidies to scholars, it is natural 
that the authorities exhibit a keen interest in the types 
and manner of their education. 

In fact, once the student has left the village to study 
elsewhere, the whole village becomes interested in his 
success and, in every way possible, reénforces his efforts. 
His success is their boast; his failure, their disappoint- 
ment; his letters, topics for village gossip and discussion. 
The student is quite aware of this interest in his behalf 
and realizes that he represents his village in whatever 
he does and whatever he achieves. This corporate 
community interest, with the addition of modern nation- 


126 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


alistic attitudes, acts as a powerful stimulus to zeal and 
ambition in school life as found to-day in the higher 
institutions of learning throughout China. 

The leaders also act as a sort of state department or 
‘‘foreign-relations’’ committee. They have charge of 
all the relations between Phenix Village and other villages 
in the rural community. Quarrels, litigations, lawsuits 
and sales that involve people of other groups and, 
therefore, potential conflicts are regarded because of 
the possibilities of conflict as familistic and not personal. 
Consequently they fall under the jurisdiction of the 
village authorities. 

It is their business to maintain in the district, the 
pride and ‘‘face’” of their kinship community. When 
‘‘Tan’’ Village established a market and began to draw 
patrons from Phenix Village, by them it was decided 
that a market was needed in Phenix Village. The 
market street may be regarded as a collective represen- 
tation of a feeling of inferiority and the method by which 
this group had attempted to avoid the feeling of inferi- 
ority and secure satisfaction of the wish for dominance.! 

1 Owing to a common misuse of such terms as “group,” “group mind,” 
““social consciousness,’’ ‘‘crowd behavior,’’ and so on, it is necessary here to 
make clear the meaning of such sociological categories as used in this study. 

The term ‘‘group feeling’’ implies no separate metaphysical entity apart 
from persons. The only difference between ‘‘personal feeling,’’ ‘‘ personal 
wishes,’’ ‘‘ personal values’’ and ‘‘group feeling’’ or ‘‘attitudes’’ or ‘‘values”’ 
or “‘consciousness”’ is the difference between one and many. True it is that 
when one person finds himself among many, he may behave somewhat differ- 
ently, but that is because of the increase in the number of suggestions arising 
from other people. Manifestly more suggestions can arise to stimulate a person 
when he is with two hundred people than when he is with two other people. 
More suggestions are likely to arise in the former situation; this is really what 
is involved in the “heightened suggestibility’’ of crowds, as Le Bon and his 
followers have named the phenomenon. But with them it receives no explana- 
tion of its real character. | 

‘‘Group feeling” would mean, then, that a number of persons are reacting 


to the same or similar stimuli in sufficiently similar ways that the similarity can 
be recognized, and in some cases even quantified, or graphed. Under similarities 


, 


VILLAGE POLITY 127 


Furthermore, the leaders act as the village court. In 
every sex-group the husband and father is responsible 
for the behavior of his wife, his concubines, children 
and servants. In the past he has had absolute 
authority—the power of life and death—over these 
persons. Actually, however, this power was quite 
definitely limited by social opinion which specified 
under what conditions the head of the sex-group might 
punish by death the members of his group. Thus, 
according to the old law, a husband might kill his wife 
if he caught her in adultery and execute his wrath upon 
her at once on the spot. But if he waited until later 
and then disposed of her, social opinion would punish him 
for murder. Under the new codes promulgated since 
I9II, definite statutory limitations upon the father’s 
exercise of his power have been established. 

Punishment by the head of the sex-group for the 
misconduct of any of the members of his group was 
meted out by the officials or by the community not upon 
the subordinate person, but upon the head. In him 
were vested familistic rights and privileges so far as 
such existed for the sex-group. Most of these rights 
and most of his duties were founded upon his status as 
the one to continue the ancestral line and perform the 
ancestral ceremonies. He stood as mediator and rep- 
resentative of the other members of his group in the 
living as well as the spirit communities. 
of reaction when such similarities can be practically recognized by a number 
of people, consensus arises and may receive practical expression as in voting 
in a meeting, general assent, ceremonial or other customary forms of codpera- 
tion, organization, or collective representation,—the village temple, the ancestral 
tablets, the lanterns with the same surname inscribed in the same way, dialectic 
or other peculiarities of speech, folklore andsoon. The collectivity represented 
may vary from that of sex-groups to a number of people who operate under a 
continental culture-complex. So the written language in Phenix Village rep- 


resents collective similarity with Peking and Chengtu; the tablet of a grand- 
father represents collective similarity with only the immediate kin. 


128 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


Among the sex-groups and the fragments of what 
were once sex-groups—widows, orphans, and so on— 
which made up an economic-group, or among a number 
of economic-groups that made up an ancestral-group, 
the recognized head of each has been responsible for 
the members of his group. Above the heads of the 
economic-groups or ancestral-groups stood the leaders 
of the sib community. Thus was authority integrated 
through the council of leaders, the heads of the ancestral- 
groups or branch-families, the economic-groups or 
families, and the husband in the sex-group or natural- 
family. 

Such integration of authority, arising out of social 
tradition and creating the theory of responsibility for 
crime, illustrates the intimate relation that exists between 
polity, kinship and religion. 

It must not be supposed, however, that in Phenix 
Village the husband was free to exercise much practical 
control even over the members of his own sex-group. 
The head of the economic-group or the head of the 
ancestral- or even the sib-group did that. The husbands 
had control of their wives and concubines in most mat- 
ters relating only to very personal relations and services 
of the latter to the former. But the children, especially 
the sons, were looked upon as wards of the sib. There- 
fore matters concerning sons, of some importance to 
the father, would be decided upon not by the father but 
by the heads of the economic- or the ancestral-group. 
The position of the latter in such instances of control 
was reénforced by ancient attitudes of filial piety or 
respect for elders. Rarely would a father be fractious 
enough to run counter to the force of such attitudes. 

During familist councils, when economic-groups would 
gather for decision on some matter or when ancestral- 


VILLAGE POLITY 120 


groups or branch-families deliberated on matters of 
concern to a number of economic-groups, such as the 
sale of some of the ancestral lands in connection with 
one of the ancestral halls, the husbands had opportunity 
to express their views, but only by courtesy of the head. 
Inefficient fathers and husbands suffered a large amount 
of interference by the leaders while capable ones enjoyed 
unusual prerogatives. Widowed mothers were recog- 
nized as legitimate members of such familist councils 
and through discussion and criticism made their influence 
potent. In the event of no division of inheritance, a 
widow is practically recognized as a chia-chang, or head 
of an economic-group. But she never becomes a head 
of an ancestral-group or of the sib-group. A female 
chia-chang may sell land if she has children. Otherwise 
she lacks this right. The theory involved here is that 
she must have access to the inherited resources in order 
to support the children. A concubine can never be 
a chia-chang, but she sometimes practically achieves 
that position by sheer force of capacity. 

The law which the leaders are charged with preserving 
is customary and necessarily familistic. They must 
see that no one breaks the customs, disregards village 
standards of action, violates taboos, ideals or traditions. 
They are jealous defenders of the faith, guardians of 
the village peace, conservators of ancient precedents 
and practices, supervisors of village ceremonies. 

In this connection they investigate rumors of mis- 
conduct, follow the clues of gossip, hear open charges, 
pass judgment and effect punishment of miscreants, mis- 
demeanants and criminals. In such cases they act as 
both judge and jury with the other villagers involved 


_ standing as plaintiffs, defendants and special pleaders. 
There is no special place as a court room; nor is there 


130 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


any specialization of status or function as in the modern 
courts with their various officials. The trial situation 
is rather informal trial at the bar of public opinion, 
certainly not statutory law. 

In such matters the jurisdiction of the leaders extends 
down to the last member of the sib and as far as sib 
members can be brought under the influence of the 
community judgments. When any heads of the sub- 
groups fail in their duties, then the sib leaders must 
step into any situation in the interests of village peace 
and harmony and assume control. Generally, however, 
the leaders attempt to integrate this authority and 
function through the heads of the sub-groups, reserving 
only the most flagrant cases of misconduct for direct 
treatment. 

COMMON LAW 


There are no written village regulations that would 
correspond to formal law as it is known in occidental 
countries. There are, however, a historical register 
containing the names of persons, relationships, etc.,— 
which is the basis for the determination of status espe- 
cially in village ceremonial procedure—and a record of 
lands, land transfers, and the like. It is the duty of the 
leaders to see that these entries are promptly and cor- 
rectly made and that traditional observances passed 
down from generation to generation in oral and unwritten 
form are properly kept. The council thus serves as 
the village legislative body. 

In their hands, too, is lodged the responsibility of 
supervising the religious ceremonies of the village. They 
see that the ancestral-group administers the ancestral 
property and fund in the interests of those concerned 
and that the feasts and proper worship to ancestors are 
provided for out of the fund. 


VILLAGE POLITY 131 


Corrupt leaders have at times been guilty of collusion 
with crafty heads of ancestral-groups in the administra- 
tion of the ancestral funds, but social opinion sooner 
or later makes itself felt for correction and punishment 
of such malpractice. When religious processions are 
held the chances for ‘‘squeeze’’ are particularly favorable. 
Men and paraphernalia are employed from outside the 
village so that overcharges can easily be later collected 
from the persons supplying these things for the proces- 
sion by corrupt and conscienceless leaders. 

Upon their honesty depends to a very large extent 
the welfare of the village. When they discharge their 
duties wisely and well, they succeed in maintaining 
a high degree of prosperity and solidarity in the village. 
As regards their responsibilities for the ceremonies, 
their function may be thought of as saviors of the village 
‘“‘face’’ both with their ancestors and their gods and 
their neighbors. 

In addition to the duties of the conduct of public 
affairs in internal village polity, the leaders, as already 
indicated, are the representatives of the village in rela- 
tion to the government above the village community. 
First of all, the leaders must see that the local official 
has a proper record of each family and each person accord- 
ing to their definite status in the village community. 
On this basis in earlier times the tax levy and the military 
apportionment of soldiers for the defense of the general ° 
government were made. The former still holds, but the 
latter has largely passed away. 

Whenever a member of the village has in any way 
become involved with people outside the village, the 
regional police or court authorities hold the leaders 
responsible. Thus in a lawsuit with another village, 
or in case of a crime against a member of another village, 


132 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


misconduct in the city when there on a visit, the officials 
of the nearest yamen or governmental office deal with 
the village council of leaders who attempt to make good 
the defect and if possible take the punishment of the 
offender in their own hands. That is often hard to do 
because the police exploit the fear which the village 
leaders have for them and thereby line their own pockets. 
Unpromising cases are readily handed over to the 
leaders for treatment. In cases of serious crimes against 
outsiders, the government controls the judgment and 
punishment of the case but holds the leaders responsible. 

When the regional court requires, the leaders must 
hand over promptly any criminal or suspect who may 
be a member of the village sib, or outsider who has 
sought asylum in the village. They are supposed to 
keep a register of all the people and to know those who 
come and go. A stranger who sojourns with them is 
subject to their scrutiny and supervision; they may 
refuse the hospitality of the village if he seems to be 
a suspicious or criminal character. 

It is also their duty to assist the local tax-gatherers 
in every way possible: to give information as to amounts 
of land held, transfers of property, ownership of buildings, 
nature and abundance of crops. 

Leadership, then, includes a complex of village control 
functions: educational administration—this involves not 
alone schools and the inculcation of knowledge and new 
ideas but ceremonies and the transmission of the village 
\ culture complex in the extra-scholastic activities; per- 
formance of public works; management of village 
finance; the provision of legal aid and philanthropy; 
the adjudication and formulation of customary law; 
the maintenance of census records; supervision of morals 


and familist religion; the promotion of inter-village | 


; 
’ 


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VIGUAGE POLITY 133 


comity; and the provision of assistance to governmental 
functions. 

Before individuals are allowed to undertake any 
activities of marked importance, they must first consult 
with one or more of the village leaders. This requirement 
does not hold for the cunning members of the larger 
and more powerful sub-groups. People are supposed 
to consult the leaders on such matters as these: the 
purchase or sale of lands when another village is involved 
in the matter; individual lawsuits against anyone within 
or without the village; the entertainment or lodging of 
strangers, or even outside friends or relatives; the 
conduct of worship or the preparation for feasts; the 
organization of associations; the departure for school; 
and so on. If trouble arises out of any such activities 
undertaken under individual responsibility, without 
sanctions first being secured, the leaders withhold any 
assistance. This acts as a powerful restraint upon 
individual initiative and innovation in village folkways. 


VILLAGE DEMOCRACY 


Inasmuch as these leaders have little to say about 
the governmental régime above the village unit, they 
can hardly be regarded as citizens in the national polity. 
They are delegated, so to speak, by the government as 
assistants to the government because of their position 
within the village polity. That position has grown up 
in the past partly because of the recognition of the 
leaders by the government. The interaction between 
prestige within the village and without has produced 
the status that the leaders hold at present. But no 
authority of the central government has arisen from 
these village leaders. It was formerly imposed upon 
the situation from Peking, integrated through provincial, 


134 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


county and district administration by appointment of 
officials from the higher authorities on the basis of 
scholarship and influence. That appointing power 
now lodges in the provincial military authorities and 
operates in peace times through the soldier-police. 

Just now, in Kwantung, the difficulties of the Canton 
government in maintaining an independent existence 
from Peking and North China leave little time for 
concern for small rural villages. Consequently Phenix 
Village lies practically untroubled by military squabbles 
and parliamentary struggles. It enjoys local autonomy 
so long as it pays its taxes and commits no crime. 


OTA r Pie Roy | 


Poe AVI Y AND THE’ SIB 


BASES OF KINSHIP 


The bases of familist alignments in Phenix Village 
are blood, land, and law. 

As emphasized again and again, both historically and 
at present, blood is the fundamental determiner of 
relationships, obligations, rights, attitudes and values. 
It is the term of reference for all matters in village life. 
It is the chief category in the village universe of dis- 
course. It sets the limits of the theoretical community; 
it fixes the physical characteristics of the village commu- 
nity in all its artificial aspects and is embodied in all 
significant forms of collective representation. It is 
the solidary unit of the village. 

According to blood the person is assigned position 
and status. In the blood-group he achieves recognition 
and fixes his standards of personal behavior. In that 
group his wishes secure satisfaction, and according to 
its norms he organizes his wishes into his dominant 
life-scheme. Blood sets the limits beyond which the 
person does not wander in his efforts or objectives. 
Blood is to familism what credit is to capitalism. 


FILIAL PIETY 


The predominant attitude of village life is filial 
piety. The notion of filial piety is very complex and 
includes really a number of attitudes. It involves 
specific attitudes toward specific blood relatives under 


136 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


specific situations with reference to specific types of 
status. These elements combine in a variety of ways, 
producing the socially sanctioned types of behavior 
characteristic of kinship. Thus respect for all those 
older than oneself is embodied in definite prescribed 
attitudes and behavior forms toward an older brother, 
an uncle, one’s father, grandfather, elder sister, mother, 
grandmother, great grandmother, ancestors, male and 
female, of several and distinctive ranks and ages. The 
mores denoted by the term filial piety fix the obligations, 
duties, and responsibilities toward others in the blood- 
group. 

Conversely it also determines the range and nature of 
obligations of others toward oneself. It is the guarantor 
of one’s own rights as fixed by one’s own status in the 
blood-group. So all those younger than oneself must 
in turn show respect and act toward one according to 
sanctions connected with one’s own status. These rights 
and duties are not fixed once for all, not even in relation 
to the departed ancestral spirits. They are constantly 
changing with one’s status in the blood-group. Status 
changes with the shifts and changes in age and member- 
ship—hence function—of the other members of the 
blood-group. The boy who is meticulously trained to 
observe the prescribed behavior toward all the members 
of the community, immediate and remote, himself 
grows up, enters fatherhood, ages and assumes responsi- 
bility for his dependents, sees his obligations transfuse 
into rights, even the right to be worshipped by his 
descendants when he is dead, which is the greatest 
right of all. 

Filial piety is the attitude that correlates with the 
all-important practice of ancestral worship. The one 
is the concomitant of the other; each reénforces the 


THE FAMILY AND THE SIB 137 


other. The logical conclusion of filial piety is ancestral 
worship. 

The principal distinction between filial piety and 
ancestral worship is that the former is primarily concerned 
with one’s relation to the living and only secondarily 
to the dead, while the latter is primarily concerned 
with one’s relation to the dead and only secondarily 
to the living. This will be illustrated under the discus- 
sion of ancestral worship as a phase of familist religious 
practices. 


ANCESTRAL WORSHIP 


Ancestral worship links the living with the spiritual 
community. In this dual community blood determines 
membership, status, obligations, rights and practices 
just as it does in the living community when considered 
separately. And yet Phenix Village community apart 
from the spirits of the departed ancestors does not 
exist. The living community derives its very esprit 
de corps as well as its external expressions in ordinary 
conduct or in collective representations, such as art 
or ceremonies, from a vital connection with the spiritual 
and historical community. The past lives and moves 
and has its being in the present, and likewise the present 
in the past. The two are one, theoretically and practi- 
cally, and can only be understood and appreciated as 
a unity. 

But, practically, the membership of this dual com- 
munity is constantly changing as generations move up 
and displace previous generations. The villager counts 
in his blood-group, for ordinary purposes, five generations. 
He limits his consideration to those immediate blood 
relatives up or down which can be designated by 
the adjective ‘“‘grand.’’ If the grandfather or grand- 


138 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


mother is dead, then he worships principally this ancestor 
but adds a formula which by a gesture includes all 
the ancestors preceding. Thus he burns incense and 
prays for the happiness of this ancestor and mentions 
also the name of the remotest ancestor, thereby implying 
the inclusion of the intermediate ancestral spirits who 
may be too numerous to mention separately. Even 
when on other special days he chooses some particular 
ancestor of a certain generation higher than that desig- 
nated by ‘‘grand’’ he may include all the generations 
previous to the one selected for worship by this same 
simple device of naming the first ancestor. Ancestral 
worship thus takes account not only of the more imme- 
diate blood relations but, in the way just described, 
also of the more remote kin, and extends the range of 
the village community. 


THE LAND BASIS OF KINSHIP 


Out of the relations fundamentally determined by 
blood, there has gradually arisen another basis of famil- 
ism, namely, land. This term includes really more than 
just the soil upon which the blood-group may depend 
for maintenance. By it is meant soil, products of the 
soil or other economic resources, such as buildings, cur- 
rency, and so on. But all these are merely outgrowths 
from the cultivation and ownership of land which in 
turn exist in major part by virtue of the needs of an- 
cestral worship and the exercise of filial piety in its mu- 
tual aid aspects. 

So the range of group membership as well as the 
obligations thereof link up with land and economic 
resources. ‘These are first dedicated to the dead; of the 
surplus of them the living may enjoy the usufruct. Divi- 
sion of land and other resources breaks up the larger 


THE FAMILY AND THE SIB 139 


blood-groups into smaller and so fixes the range and 
nature of certain types of behavior and attitudes. 


THE LAW BASIS OF KINSHIP 


Traditionally, these two bases, blood and land, were 
all that existed. More recently they have been supple- 
mented by statutory law. The precipitation into law 
of familist custom with regard to land and blood aspects 
of familist relations has not increased their effective- 
ness in the least. Customary law has been operating 
in Phenix Village quite satisfactorily and is effective 
because it is enforced by local authorities who know 
best the facts about the people of the village through 
their primary contacts with them. 

When the legislators of the Manchu dynasty wished 
to codify laws controlling family life, they took over the 
universal phases of the prevalent familist customs among 
the Chinese and made only the necessary changes for 
the sake of the prestige of the ruling powers. Inasmuch 
as Jamieson! has translated with comments all the 
important sections relating to the family, of the Ta Ching 
Lu Li, General Code of Laws of the Chinese Empire, it 
is not necessary to treat here of these legal aspects of 
familist organization. 

Customary law, backed by social opinion, has been 
changed to statutory regulation partly because of the 
weakening of the control of personal behavior by commu- 
nity opinion. This weakening arose out of the introduc- 
tion of new norms and standards into modern Chinese 
life. The statutory regulation of familist practices, 
theoretically backed by the provincial police power, is 
felt at only a few points,—land transfers, inheritance, 
taxes, marriage, and soon. Generally the people adhere 


1Op. cit., pp. 13-108, 


140 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


to custom as custom and are unaware of laws. However, 
the legal basis of familist organization and practices 
must be recognized as an important trend toward 
modernization of societal life. 


FAMILIST GROUPINGS 


Phenix Village is made up of a plurality of groups. 
Apart from the remnants of fractured groups, such as 
widows, orphans, widowers, or persons unmarried because 
of physical defect, there are four distinct types of groups, 
ranging in size from one person to tens or even hundreds 
of persons. The determiner of each group varies. Some 
of the groups exist more potentially than actually. They 
come into being, that is, are consciously recognized 
as groups, when they have special functions to perform, 
after which they break up again into the ordinary groups. 
Herein these groups are designated as the sex-group, the 
economic-group, the ancestral-group, and the sib-group. 


THE SOCIOLOGY OF A GROUP 


Before proceeding with the detailed description and 
analysis of these groups, it may be well to set forth 
briefly the main sociological facts about groups. The 
group is the unit of investigation for sociology but, as 
such, throws sociological emphasis upon structure rather 
than process. From this point of view Small! defines 
a group as any number of persons among whom exist 
relations of sufficient importance to attract attention. 
But if the group is defined as a number of people inter- 
acting or reciprocally influencing one another, thereby 
producing definite relationships among one another, the 
unit of investigation becomes the process rather than 
the result of the process, namely, interaction. Inasmuch 


1Small, A. W. General Sociology. p. 495. 


PHE PAMILY AND THE SIB 141 


as some of these village groupings exist only at moments 
of village experience, it is better to use the functional 
rather than the structural unit of investigation. The 
relations of people, their classifications, their super- 
ordinations and subordinations are of only incidental 
interest in socioanalysis. The real areas of investigation 
are the attitudes of persons, the conditioning of these 
attitudes and the forms of objective expression of 
attitudes in behavior. 

There are many ways to classify groups, for the 
characteristics are numerous. Groups are amorphous 
or organized, natural or intentional, primary or second- 
ary, ephemeral or continuous. Herein the classifications 
for the groups of Phenix Village, as regards kinship, 
base primarily on the function that a number of people 
perform, during which time they recognize themselves 
as forming a definite group for the performance of 
that function. . 

The people who at any moment make up a particular 
kind of group are in the group because participation 
in group activities satisfies their complexes of wishes. 
Otherwise, they would leave the group. The exception 
to this is the very young person who is born into the 
group and has not yet achieved discretion. The em- 
igrants are just those persons who find themselves 
members of continuous groups into which they were 
born but in which they can no longer satisfy their wishes, 
so they leave. 

The fundamental characteristic of all of these groups 
in Phenix Village is that they are natural. The members 
are born into the groups. An intentional character 
exists for these kinship groups, then, only in so far as 
the members have not broken taboos or conventions of 
familist practices and remain moral members. Whether 


142 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


a member remains in any of these groups by intention 
will depend upon the range of personal experience. 
Those who know nothing else can do nothing else. Those 
who see ways of breaking out from these groups and 
do not, have in fact chosen to remain. For them, the 
natural group then changes to an intentional group. 

This distinction has increasing significance. With the 
growth of contacts, mediated by letters, newspapers, 
and the like, or immediate in Chaochow and elsewhere 
while travelling, the pressure to break away from natural 
groupings is greater than ever before. At present the 
general characteristics of familist life in Phenix Village 
rest on just this natural aspect of the group. If the 
present familist organization persists at all it will more 
and more do so because of a recognition by its members 
of its superiority to other types with which it is now 
coming into competition. It is not inconceivable that 
eventually through education and wise social opinion 
the natural character of the familist group may change 
entirely for adults to an intentional one. With the 
present trends away from traditionalism, either this 
must happen or familist organization will break 
altogether. 

Two of these groups are easily distinguished and 
delimited. They are the sex-groups and the sib. 


THE NATURAL-FAMILY 


The sex-group corresponds to the family of Western 
society. It includes the father, mother (wife or con- 
cubines), and children. It is founded on the sex relations 
incident to parenthood. It is a biological group, not 
conventional. Merely a part of another group, it in 
itself serves a subsidiary function. It provides biological 
continuity of the sib and other groups and feeds members 


THE FAMILY AND THE SIB 143 


into the other groups. Actually it is fundamental in: 
the village, but from the point of view of theory embodied 
in tradition and convention, little account is taken of 
it for itself. It may be called the natural-family or 
the marriage-group. 

The sex-group or natural-family is created by marriage, 
which is performed under the complete control of the 
economic-group and in relation to the ancestral-group. 
Under circumstances, it may become identical with 
both the economic-group and the ancestral-group. 


THE SIB—-THE CONVENTIONAL-FAMILY 


The sib is a unilateral kinship-group. Exclusive of 
the people in Phenix Village engaged in business and 
with other names, every member of the village is a 
member of the sib. Once a man is a sib member he is 
always a sib member. Phenix Village is, then, a patri- 
lineal sib for it traces descent through the male line 
only and is thus unilateral. A man is born into a sib 
and can never get out of it no matter how far away from 
Phenix Village he may migrate. 

Birth establishes membership in a sib. Therefore 
adoption is a form of fictitious birth. Two types of 
people are adopted: brides and sons. Both are inducted 
into the sib by very simple ceremonies in relation to the 
ancestral tablets. The ceremonies are not identical 
because the status of brides and sons is not the same, but 
they identify themselves as sib members before the 
ancestors of the sib. 

Brides attain their status as sib members by virtue of 
their potential motherhood of sons whose duty it will 
be to carry on the line, inherit property, and conduct 
the worship of the ancestors. Sons are adopted when 
no male issue exists to perform these same functions. 


144 COUNTRY, LIFE IN SOUTH GHINA 


The status of these fictitiously born into the village 
community, actual and spiritual, arises entirely out of 
their relations to the ancestors of the sib. 

Persons when adopted are thought of as having broken 
with their own previous sib. That is why when sons- 
in-law are adopted as sons they consider that they ‘“‘lose 
face”’ if they take the name of their wives, so they 
break away, sometimes by eloping. The bride is no 
longer under the jurisdiction of her father’s group. 
What is commonly thought of as the purchase price 
is thus seen to be not so much purchase as recompense 
to a group for the keep of the person adopted. A recom- 
pense in money accompanies marriage and adoption 
of sons, for the boys are generally secured from poor 
families who have too many boys and need money. 
In the minds of the parents they are getting back what 
they have spent in bringing up the boys. If the boys 
did not leave the fathers’ groups to become members 
of other sibs they would themselves recompense their 
parents for their cost by the contributions of their own 
productive efforts to the family exchequer when they 
grew up. Both girls and boys are thought of as economic 
producers to the general funds for maintenance. The 
money involved in their transfer from one sib to another 
in marriage or adoption is compensation for this loss 
of economic producers. 

The sib is, then, the all-inclusive group of Phenix 
Village. All male persons who hold the same surname 
and trace their descent from the common ancestor are 
members of it with status according to their birth, age, 
and ceremonial relations to ancestors. Females are 
members really by proxy. Deceased mothers are real 
members and as such are worshipped by descendants. 
Girls of Phenix Village marry outside and so lose their 


THE FAMILY AND THE SIB 145 


original sib membership and acquire a new one. This 
complete break with their own sib is the reason why 
girls are considered of less importance than boys. And 
yet actually the break is never completed until the girl 
has died as a member of another sib, for in case of divorce 
for unjust reasons the girl returns to her own sib for 
protection and support. Furthermore, between sibs 
connected by marriage there is always a sense of responsi- 
bility to the girl’s sib for fair treatment of the bride. It 
is a responsibility enjoined by social opinion and status 
relations prescribed by custom, 

To sum up, the sib 1s: patrilineal, patronymic and 
exogamous, inclusive of the entire village, the area of 
effective social opinion, the determiner of status in the 
community and made up of a plurality of sub-groups, 
sex, economic and ancestral alignments. 


THE RELIGIOUS -FAMILY 


The ancestral-group is made up of a number of sex- 
and economic-groups. In fact there are cases where the 
sex- and economic- and ancestral-groups are identical. 
The ancestral-groups vary in size. They may stand mid- 
way between the sib and the economic-group, or between 
the sib and smaller ancestral-groups. As the sib increased 
in size, it has split into moieties or parts. Each part 
was then better able to preserve its unity and solidarity 
than was the sib as a whole. Functioning units were 
thus substituted for divisive cliques. 

The ancestral-group is called generally by writers the 
“branch-family.’’ The best functional name for it 
would be the “‘religious-family.”’ It is the practical 
unit of ancestral worship. It becomes a conscious unit 
only during the ceremonies of ancestral worship and 
varies according to the ancestor worshipped at any one 


146 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


time. It thus includes all those persons who ordinarily 
come together for ancestor worship, whether of the 
moieties just beneath the sib in rank and size, or just 
above or identical with the economic-groups. 

A glance at the Map of Phenix Village will reveal the 
nature of these divisions by noting the various ancestral 
halls. There is first and foremost the ancient ancestral 
hall (D) of the entire sib. At present worship in this 
hall occurs rarely if at all, except by the members of 
the economic-family who live in it. Then there are 
two large and newly constructed ancestral halls (E 
and F) wherein the two great religious-families regularly 
come to worship their ancestors. Besides there are a 
number of smaller ancestral halls where still smaller 
groups assemble to worship some common ancestor not 
so far removed as in the case of the two great ancestral 
halls. Finally, there are the small halls built into each 
homestead in which the tablets of the immediate ances- 
tors of the living economic- and natural-families are 
worshipped. [Fig. 5, (1), p. 153.] 

These ancestral halls, large or small, should be viewed 
as collective representations of the various functional 
groupings in the village. Were it not for the main 
ancestral halls the larger ranges of kinship would grow 
weak. The regular ceremonies in worship of the more 
remote ancestors constantly remind the villagers of their 
fundamental connection through the remote and com- 
mon ancestors. This maintains village unity and 
solidarity. 

But on the other hand, worship of the remote ancestors 
is not the real experience that worship of immediate 
ancestors is, for the recent departures burn within the 
memories of the living. The worship of the remote 
ancestors keeps strong the blood bond in the village as 


THE FAMILY AND THE SIB 147 


a whole, while that of the recent ancestors puts reality 
into the experience and binds the present with the past 
community into a genuine unity and harmony. The 
words, precepts, conduct, and ideals of the immediate 
ancestors keep fresh and vital the values of the religious- 
groups. 

The religious-family has great significance in village 
life not only because it is the chief preserver of village 
values and practices, and so maintains the continuity 
of the village community, but also because it conditions 
village polity as shown in the previous chapter. It is 
thus the practical unit of social control in the village. 

Membership in the religious-family varies according 
to sex and age and corporeality. All males, living or 
dead, are regarded as members in good standing in the 
religious-family. They may be actual members as in 
the case of adults who participate in the ceremonies 
of ancestral worship, or potential, as in the case of boys 
who are mere learners and future worshippers. Females, 
on the contrary, are not members of the religious-family 
except by proxy. They are allowed to participate in 
the ceremonies of worship merely as spectators, but as 
such they play an important rédle. There is one excep- 
tion to the above, namely, when a mother dies she 
becomes a member of the religious-family and so of the 
historical community by virtue of her motherhood of 
sons who are worshippers. She is worshipped equally 
with her husband by her sons or other male descendants. 
This is shown by the fact that the beautiful paintings 
of ancestors kept in the Scholars Hall (A) were of both 
male and female ancestors rendered in similar artistic 
representation and displayed together at the time of 
ancestral worship in the main halls. Through honorable 
motherhood a woman, sometimes even a concubine, 


148 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


may achieve high status in the spiritual community 
and an enviable position among the departed spirits 
that belong to the dead section of the refigious-family. 
But while alive no such status is possible t6 any female. 
She simply does not belong to the religious-family of 
her husband’s sib nor of her father’s sib. 


THE ECONOMIC-FAMILY 


Finally, the economic-group is what is commonly 
referred to by the Chinese as the family. Herein it 
is called the economic-family to distinguish it clearly 
from the other familist groupings. It isa group of people 
who on the basis of blood or marriage connection live 
together as an economic unit. It may be a natural- 
family or a number of natural-families which have not 
divided the ancestral inheritance. Occasionally it may 
coincide with the branch-family or religious-familye 

Members of the economic-family may all live under 
one roof, under several roofs joining one another, 
in houses somewhat separated in the village, or far 
apart as in Chaochow, Swatow, or the South Seas. 
So long as there is no distinction between the income 
and outgo of funds and so long as the whole group is 
administered by a certain head or chia-chang, the per- 
sons living under these arrangements belong to an 
economic-family. On the other hand, when they are 
economically independent they belong to different 
economic-families. | 

Ordinarily an economic-family is composed of father, 
mother or mothers, grandparents—frequently a grand- 
mother—the children of the father, and the wives of the 
children with their young children. This covers four 
generations. In such cases the groups tend to be large. 
The number of persons may vary from a single person 


THE FAMILY AND THE SIB 149 


to more than twenty in Phenix Village. In some villages 
nearby such groups contain more than one hundred 
persons: Thé small groups are created by the division 
of property and the declaration of separate finances. 
Brothers, uncles, nephews, father and son, sometimes 
even husband and wife may so effect division of economic 
resources and live independently, although they may re- 
side under the same roof and compose the same religious- 
family. Even one person may form what is thought 
of as an economic-family if living economically independ- 
ent. There are five such cases in Phenix Village. Many 
economic-families consist of widows with one or more 
small children. However, these are not modal cases but 
exceptions. 

The economic-family is really the working unit of 
the village community. While the religious-family 
functions primarily for the stability of the com- 
munity, the economic-family provides ‘its maintenance. 
Within this unit there is in general resources a limited 
form of communism. The administration of these re- 
sources lies in the hands of the chia-chang or head under 
the supervision of the chia-chang of the religious-families 
or the village leaders. 

When the natural-family coincides with the economic- 
family then the father is head and assumes full responsi- 
bility to the higher chia-chang or village leaders for the 
conduct of the members of his group. When a number 
of natural-families compose an economic-family—some 
of these natural-families may be complete but frequently 
some of them are remnants of fractured groups, old 
persons, widows or orphans—then the oldest effective 
male person is the chia-chang. His duty includes the 
careful administration of his inheritance, the improve- 
ment of the financial resources, wise expenditure of 


150 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


funds upon members of his group in harmony with tradi- 
tional sib values, the supervision and direction of the 
conduct of the members of his group. He is a sort of 
patriarch although he does not possess the patria potestas 
common among the Romans. To him all others are 
subordinate in authority. If there are aged and decrepit 
male members he must show them respect and deference 
under the rules of filial piety. 


STATUS OF WOMEN 


Contrary to the religious-family, the economic-family 
both practically and theoretically affords status to 
women. Herein they function as producers and con- 
tributors to the income of the poorer families and are 
considered important members. Even the girls become 
important producers and as such are objects of recom- 
pense when removed through marriage. 

The wife of the chia-chang rules the interior affairs 
of the home and directs the behavior and work of all 
the other women except those who may be older than 
herself. The wives of younger men than her husband, 
her husband’s concubines, her sons and daughters and 
grandsons and granddaughters are all supposed to obey 
her and show filial piety toward her. 

A good objective method of studying the status of 
women is to determine the manner and degree of owner- 
ship of property allowed the female members of the 
familist group. The wife does not own anything ab- 
solutely while the husband is living. She has her own 
personal effects, but under duress the husband could 
sell these if he wanted to. He would be checked only 
by gossip. 

The wife can own property when the husband is 
dead, provided she has sons. In case either the mother 


THE FAMILY AND THE SIB I51 


or the sons should wish to sell the property, each would 
have to secure the consent of the other. 

The wife can own anything, land, chattels, etc.,—if 
the husband is dead and she has no sons—until she 
should marry again, in which case she would lose all 
the rights in the husband’s property. Under this 
situation she would also have the right of sale. The 
loss of these rights upon remarriage is a powerful in- 
centive to retain widowhood. 

The concubine has the same rights of ownership as 
the wife. She can never own anything in her own right 
while the husband is alive. If she has a son she gets 
a share of the husband’s property after his death. If 
there is no son, she receives a portion of the estate for the 
support of herself. She may, however, adopt a son and 
through him get a share of the husband’s inheritance. 

The status of concubine in the home, however, differs | 
radically from that of the wife. She is subordinate to © 
the wife and superior to the servants and slaves. She 
is purchased by the husband from her father. Usually 
the concubine is pretty and is secured from poor families. 
Wealthy families do not like to have their daughters 
leave as concubines. She may be treated well or ill 
by the wife or the husband and she has no redress. The 
husband may sell her at any time. She may come to 
his home in the wedding chair and dress in marriage 
robes, if the husband so desires, but there are no formal 
ceremonies of acceptance or induction into the sib as 
in the case of the wife. She joins the natural-family 
but not the religious-family. 

But if she becomes a mother of a son, her status is 
raised. If the wife is childless the status of the con- 
cubine may be raised above that of the wife. If both the 


152 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


wife and concubine have children, her status remains 
always below that of the wife. 

Boys are considered in the economic-family of greater 
importance than girls because a girl will leave the 
group and carry to some other group all her productive 
powers. The boys are therefore showered with attention 
and care, are educated and trained, so that when they 
arrive at adulthood they may be capable members of 
the village community and effective producers in the 
economic-family. This complete emphasis upon the 
boys to the neglect of girls is changing, as is shown by 
the fact that several girls are now being sent to schools 
to study with the boys. The treatment of girls is not 
necessarily harsh, for parents become fond of their girls 
as of their boys. The boys have status because of their 
future functions in the community. The girls have only 
what status is offered them because of the affection for 
them on the part of the parents. No cases of infanticide 
in Phenix Village are known. 

The economic-family is developed through the rise of 
natural-families within it and the birth of children to 
the marriage-pairs. It changes from time to time 
according to the circumstances: harmony or dissimilarity 
among its members, the death of the head and the divi- 
sion of the inheritance, the growth of the natural-families. 
It is a social unit of mutual aid that breaks up only 
when economic competency of the new parts seems 
assured. 


AN ANCESTRAL HOMESTEAD 


By an examination of the floor plan of one of the 
ancestral homesteads of the village, it is possible to 
secure an idea of the physical setting of an economic- 
family of the larger kind. Figure 5 sets forth the de- 


THE FAMILY AND THE SIB 153 


Feear Court 


Bed Foom 
' (2 floors) 


Open Court 


Bed Fioom 
(2floors) | (2 floors) 


Flower Shelf Flower Shelf 


Front Court 
(Sor drying &winnowing rice) 


0. Kulp I 





FIG. 5. FLOOR PLAN OF ANCESTRAL HOME 


tailed relations of the various parts built for the accom- 
modation of several natural-families composing the 
economic-family or the religious-family bound together 


154 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


by the worship of the immediate ancestors of this kin- 
group. 

There are four suites of rooms in each corner of the 
homestead, including kitchen, storage and bedroom. 
All of these suites are two floors. If natural-families 
were to occupy the bedrooms, then the second floors of 
the kitchen and storage would be used by servants or 
slaves. The guest rooms and the study rooms are 
located in an intermediate position for the convenient 
and common use of all. 

Two doors lead into the front court from which a 
large double door gives access into the interior of the 
house. Surrounding the open court is a passageway 
that leads to all parts. Opposite the main door is the 
ancestral hall, facing east. In the center is the cabinet 
containing the small wez or ancestral tablets [Fig. 5, (2)]. 
There is one for each of the departed spirits that are sup- 
posed after death to reside in the tablets. They are ar- 
ranged according to rank in an ascending series of small 
steps; the most recent at the bottom, the most remote at 
the top. The oldestand most famous ancestor hasa special 
tablet of greater size and more elaborate decoration. 
The tablets of husbands and wives are placed together. 
The cabinet is closed with two doors that are opened 
at the time of worship. 

Over the cabinet and under the roof is hung a large 
wooden board inscribed with characters. In front of the 
cabinet is a long table [Fig. 5, (3)] on which are placed the 
offerings of food and incense at the time of worship. In 
the corner a square table holds a little household image 
before which the women burn incense on the days in- 
dicated by the calendar as days of good fortune, the 
first and the fifteenth of each month. This whole por- 
tion, known as the ancestral hall of the kin living together 


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THE FAMILY AND THE SIB 155 


under one roof or most closely connected by blood, is 
the “holy of holies’’ for them. 

The people living in such a house might constitute 
one economic-family or four economic-families or any 
number of intermediate economic-groups depending 
upon their financial interdependence and mutuality, 
or their independence. At the time of the investiga- 
tion there lived in this house two economic-families 
using two sets of stoves or feng-lo' [Fig. 5, (4)]. Thus 
in the two passageways near the west court were the 
cooking arrangements of the two economic-families. 
The one on the right, looking west, was composed of a 
mother and child (Fig. 6, I1I-43, IV-12, p. 157). The 
one on the left, a concubine (Idem, I-60) and a slave 
girl who is not indicated on the figure. The two kitch- 
ens at the east end were not being used at all. 

The plan of the house was clearly designed to meet 
the needs of familist organization and relations and 
provides for the functioning of three possible groupings: 
the natural-family, with the privacy needed therefor, 
the economic-family, and the religious-family. The 
floor plan affords a splendid graph of the mutuality 
aspects of the last two types of groupings. 

This was the only house in the village that was so 
large as to include the two outside rows of rooms. The 
other ancestral homesteads both old and new corre- 
sponded to this one in all the general features. Illustra- 
tion XII shows what such a home looks like without 
the two rows of outside rooms and the front court. 
The house in Figure 5 is surrounded by walls that en- 
close both outside courts and hide the main entrance 

1A good method for the determination of the number of persons in each 


economic family is to discover the number who eat from one set of stoves. 
See Note 3, Appendix. 


156 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


from the outside world, which is not the case in Illustra- 
tion XV. The front wall of the terrace of the latter house 
runs along the side of the main road which extends from 
the congested part of the village to the market street. 

The ancestral homesteads of the village that are still 
smaller than that shown in Illustration XII lack the 
side entrances and passageways. Otherwise they conform 
quite closely to this type. They are indicated on the 
Map of Phenix Village by the representation of the inner 
court, a recurring characteristic of the architecture of 
all ancestral homesteads. 

The poor families in the congested quarters (Illustra- 
tions V and XI) have homes with one large room below 
and a small room for a kitchen in the rear and a room 
on the second floor. Some families live in only one room. 


TYPICAL FAMILIST GROUPINGS 


An analysis of a typical evolution of an economic- 
family that illustrates all the main points heretofore 
set forth is put into graphic form in Figure 6. It rep- 
resents the present descendants of a recent common 
ancestor, namely, the husband of the concubine (I-60) 
now living in the home depicted in Figure 5. 

It should be noted that all descendants, male and 
female, are here traced out and graphed. Daughters 
always marry out of the sib and are no longer parts of 
Phenix Village. In the ordinary reckoning of descent 
the villager would take no count of all those included 
in the unclosed dot-and-dash lines. These female 
descendants take the names of their husbands and belong 
to other sibs. 

And yet in practice these people are recognized as 
relatives, and the information about the female descend- 
ants and their children was quite as available as con- 


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158 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


cerning the male descendants. There is a consciousness 
of a bond between the people of Phenix Village and the 
natural-families of the female descendants that is cer- 
tainly stronger than between other ordinary outsiders. 
Conventionally, however, these women might just as 
well be dead once they are married out, for they play 
no further réle in the Phenix Village community. 

It will be seen that none of these female descendants 
have become concubines. That is sure evidence of the 
high economic and social status of this ancestral-family. 
Furthermore, they have all gone as wives to sibs in 
Chaochow, which indicates the prestige of the family 
in that city. 

There are several interesting facts about these groups 
as cases that may be noted in passing. III-40 was 
married to a widower. Her step-daughter, [V—20, was 
married to a man who is insane. She does not live with 
him but is going to a mission school in Swatow. She 
is a Christian. III-40 is now a widow with two sons. 
She cannot marry again without losing prestige in her 
community. Re-marriage of widows in respectable 
families is a negative value throughout the region. 
III-44 is also a widow. A widower may re-marry with- 
out losing social approval, as in the case of III—(40) d. 

Three types of familist groupings may be illustrated 
by Figure 6. A, B, C—heavy-dash lines—are natural- 
families or sex-groups. They include the father, mother 
(wife and concubine), and children. These groups are 
at present also three economic-families, for they admin- 
ister their finances independently of one another. 

Two other combinations for the formation of economic- 
families may have been possible in this case. At one 
time, before the death of II-d, his natural-family may 
have lived with IIJ-A-39 without having divided the 


THE FAMILY AND THE SIB 159 


inheritance of I-d, in which case they would together 
have constituted an economic-family that included a 
number of natural-families, namely B and C._ II-39 
would have a status beneath II-d for two reasons: he 
was younger and a son of a concubine. On account of 
the latter fact, he would not fare so well as II-d in a 
division of I-d’s property. In case II-d and II-39 had 
not separated before the death of II-d, then A, B, and 
C might continue to live codperatively for some time, 
as one economic-family. If they determined upon divi- 
ion, III-36 and III-45 would get equal shares, each 
of which would probably be more than II-39, because 
they were sons of a wife. 

Or, a second combination: before the death of I[I-d, 
he may have divided the inheritance of I-d with II-39. 
Then just before his death he, with the unmarried 
daughters and the natural-families of III-36 and III-45, 
constituted an economic-family. Up to the time of 
his death, in such a case, II-d would be the chia-chang. 
After his death but before division of II-d’s property, 
III-45 would be the chia-chang of the economic-family 
BC. As such he would be responsible for the conduct 
of the members of B as well as of C. At present he is 
both the head of his economic-group and also one of the 
village leaders, a scholar and a man of great influence 
in the village. 

A, B, C taken together constitute the religious-family 
which worships in the ancestral hall shown in Figure 6. 
III-45 because of his superior age is chia-chang of the 
religious-family and conductor of the ceremonies of 
ancestral worship of I-d or II-d. A, B, C taken together 
with similar groups of descendants of the brothers of 
I-d, and so on, would make up a larger religious-family, 
or even a sib moiety that would worship in one of the 


160 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


ancestral halls marked on Map 3, page 12, as F and E. 
In such a case III-45 would also be a chia-chang because 
of his position as village leader. He would be one of 
the masters of ceremonies. The fact is that the people 
represented in Figure 6 relate themselves to the religious- 
family that worships in ancestral hall E. But occasion- 
ally they may join with those who worship in ancestral 
hall F, or with those who worship in the original ances- 
tral hall D. 

The religious-family A, B, C has, however, been 
fractured by the infiltration of Western culture elements. 
B no longer joins the religious-family because the head 
of the family,—in this case both natural and economic— 
III-36, is a Christian and therefore does not worship 
his ancestors. Practically, then, AC constitute the 
religious-family of this ancestral group. That B, through 
III-36, could break away from the religious-family and 
still not be ostracized from the village community 
testifies to the loosening of village attitudes and values. 
At present he holds the respect of the community by 
virtue of his high scholastic achievement in modern 
science and thought and by his sterling character. He 
still derives income from his inheritance in Phenix 
Village. 

The influence of Phenix Village values over A, B, and 
C is weakening all the time. A is in Chaochow. The 
daughter, IJI-18, was at one time betrothed but because 
she objected to the young man the father withdrew the 
marriage contract. III-16 is now betrothed. III-21 
is an emigrant to Canton. Group B is now living in 
Swatow where, during the absence of the husband and 
father, III-36, the mother, III-37, acts as chia-chang 
of B. In matters of sufficient importance concerning 
her husband’s property in the village, she might, if 


THE FAMILY AND THE SIB 161 


necessary, consult III-45 before acting for her husband. 
Otherwise this group B constitutes a family operating 
under the separate-home principle common in Western 
culture and now being advocated by many Chinese 
reformers of familist society. 

Group C exhibits the characters of the polygynous 
natural- and economic-family. IJI-45 was married and 
had one child, a daughter who was married to a man 
in Chaochow. He married a second time to III-43 
by whom he had two sons and a daughter. The latter 
has married a man also from Chaochow. This natural- 
family, I1]—45-43, I1V—21-20-12, had lived in the ances- 
tral home (Figure 5) in Phenix Village. At present only 
the mother and one son, IV-12, live there. The oldest 
son, [V—20, has emigrated to Siam. 

III-45 then took a concubine, III-35, by whom he 
has had five children, two girls, 1V—6-9, and three boys, 
IV-—3-11-14. This family he located in a house in Tan 
Tou, across the river from Phenix Village. They live 
alone except when the father visits them. IV-6 has 
been betrothed and has gone to the home of her future 
husband to live. The betrothed boy’s family takes the 
betrothed girl for two reasons: they get another person 
who will work and they can train her in the attitudes 
and practices of her new family. The device is an excel- 
lent one to prevent disharmony that might otherwise 
be introduced when an adult woman is brought in as 
a wife. This method insures complete assimilation into 
familist arrangements. Finally, II1I-45 took a second 
concubine, I]I—27, with whom he is now living in Chao- 
chow and by whom he has had one daughter, IV-—10, 
and two sons, IV—5-3. 

All those included within the dotted lines in Figure 
6, C, are living together economically but eating from 


162 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


separate stoves. This one natural-family thus is broken 
up, so far as residence is concerned, into three distinct 
groups, one living in the ancestral home in Phenix Vil- 
lage, one in Jan Tou, and one in Chaochow. Over III- 
43, [V-12 in the ancestral home, the concubine, I-60, 
has authority in small matters except when the chza- 
chang, III-45, is present in the ancestral home. So when 
the writer visited the village and was entertained in 
the home depicted in Figure 5, this woman, I-60, was 
the person to give permission to the request of his com- 
panion, [V—17, that he be allowed to remain as a guest 
in that home. In that home, the concubine was practi- 
cally chia-chang over all within its walls during the 
absence of III-45. She was treated with the greatest 
respect by all and was the object of strict obedience 
and courtesy. 

The financial affairs and other matters of all those 
included in C—the heavy-dash lines—lie in the hands of 
III-45, the chia-chang. They depend upon him for sup- 
port and he controls their conduct. Although he reg- 
ularly lives with his youngest concubine, II1—27, he visits 
his wife and the other concubine whenever his private 
affairs or ancestral worship takes him to Phenix Village. 

All the extant combinations of familist organization and 
groupings are here illustrated in this case analysis. The 
three families represent all stages of evolution from the 
traditional polygynous and conventionally administered 
type, C, through the case of partial modification of 
attitudes (III-18) in A, to a completely modernized 
monogamous family in B. Here also are two instances 
of emigration, one to Canton and one to Siam. The 
patrilineal character of the religious-family is clearly 
discerned, for under exogamy the women are disregarded 
when married out. 


THE FAMILY AND THE SIB 163 


IV-17 was asked to write down all the relatives whom 
he thought of as most closely connected to himself 
and his family and to indicate their ages. Following is 
the list, Romanized according to the dialectic equivalents: 


1. Lao Po—57—grandmother 
2. Ah M—45—paternal aunt 
3. Lao Sim—42—paternal great aunt 
4. Tsai Yuen Lao Dzaik—61—paternal great uncle 
5. Tseng Yao Lao Dzaik—56—paternal great uncle 
6. Sung Leng Lao Dzaik—55—paternal great uncle 
7. Keng Heng Dzaik—25—paternal uncle 
8. Tso Dzaik—22—paternal uncle _ 
9. Yung Siang Dzaik—22—paternal uncle 
10. Men Siang—14—paternal cousin 
11. Tian Hao—17—paternal cousin 
12. O Ma Dzaik—16—paternal uncle* (‘‘ black hair’’) 
13. Tsiah Ma Dzaik—14—paternal uncle* (‘‘brown hair’’) 
14. Ong Ma Dzaik—12—paternal uncle* (‘‘red hair’’) 
15. Ah Sang—14—paternal cousin 
16. Keng Heng Sim—24—paternal aunt 
17. Yiong Sian Sim—20—paternal aunt 
18. Dzu Sian Lao Sim—4o0—old paternal aunt 
19. Tseng Yao Lao Sim—45—paternal great aunt 
20. Dzu Sung—14—paternal cousin (by concubine) 


21. Ah Tsang—1o0—paternal cousin (by concubine) 


The various degrees and ranks of relationships are 
designated by fixed categories of kinship as dzatk or 
sim with adjectives added to distinguish members of 
the same generation. These distinctions may be purely 
conventional, as in the case of the three brothers who 
all had coal-black hair. The names were given to the 
boys by their parents and the whole community accepted 
the nicknames and added the kin appellative. ‘ Pater- 
nal’’ does not mean ‘‘father’s’’ but ‘‘on the father’s 
side.’’ Whenever IV-17 meets any of these people he 


*Three brothers. 


164 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


addresses them by the names indicated above. The 
use of this kinship nomenclature is an effective device 
to maintain consciousness of kin relationship among the 
village folk. This helps to maintain village solidarity. 


SLAVES 


Mention has been made of slaves. They are maid- 
slaves, young girls bought into the homes of the richer 
economic familist groups for several tens of dollars. 
Poor families need money and have too many daughters. 
The daughters consume rice and need clothes; when they 
are grown up they leave the home and furnish additional 
service to the productivity of the economic family of 
the group into which the girl is married. The parents 
in poor families consider it better therefore to get rid 
of the girl at the first opportunity and thus free them- 
selves of her expenses and at the same time get some 
cash. Even some of the families classified as fair may 
have a slave-girl to assist in the hard work about the 
home, if opportunity should arise. 

The treatment of the slaves or house-maids differs 
with the various families, depending upon the disposi- 
tions and ethical standards of the masters and mistresses. 
They are primarily under the control of the wife and 
ultimately under the authority of the head of the economic 
family. He has complete control of and may sell the 
slaves or marry them off whenever he wishes. Although 
they come close to chattel property, they are still human 
beings and this fact is not lost sight of by the community. 
Unfair or harsh treatment would be subjected to the 
criticism of gossip. 

Under the circumstances the life of the slaves is hard. 
They are brought in as workers or servants to do the 
difficult and toilsome tasks about the home. They must 


THE FAMILY AND THE SIB 165 


draw water, cut wood, pound rice, wash clothes, cook, 
clean, care for the children, and so on. They are the 
first up in the morning and the last to retire. When 
they attain maturity they are either sold off as con- 
cubines to rich persons or married to men of poor families. 
A son of the family may take a slave-girl as a concubine, 
though this is rare. If the relations between the slave 
and the mistress have been amicable, the two would 
continue to communicate with each other in terms of 
blood relationship, with gifts and other courtesies. Other- 
wise, the relation ends when the slave leaves the home. 

There are no male slaves known in Phenix Village. 
This is due to the fact that no families would sell their 
sons into servitude. Sons have higher status than 
girls because of their potential position in an economic 
family as producer and in the religious family as wor- 
shipper. A boy may be bought from a poor family but 
he is never made nor considered a slave. He is adopted 
and given the status of a son. 

Not all of the girls brought into the homes are slaves. 
As in the case of IV-6 (Figure 6), mentioned above, 
baby girls are bought into the poor families to be the 
future wives of their baby sons. This is known as 
adopting a baby daughter-in-law. The reasons for 
this practice are: (a) it is more economical; the baby 
costs less than an adult girl and the wedding ceremonies 
may be simplified or even omitted; (6) an additional 
worker is secured for the home; (c) the child is trained 
into the habits of the family. Sometimes instead of 
purchase there is an exchange of girl babies between 
families in which there are infant sons and infant daugh- 
ters. There are no more mouths to feed under this 
arrangement and everything put into the prospective 
wife will be returned to the economic family later on 


166 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


when she has become a dutiful wife and an economic 
producer. Better to train, clothe and feed a permanent 
member of the economic family than a temporary one, 
especially when the temporary one will be lost just at 
the age of greatest economic productivity. Daughters 
are regarded as the eventual property of others; while 
daughters-in-law are looked upon as permanent property 
of the husband’s economic family. 

The practice does not always work out successfully, 
however, for the familiarity between the betrothed 
persons leads to disrespect. They do not love each 
other in many cases, murmur and quarrel, and even 
break out in open fights. Moreover, the treatment 
of the girl by the mother-in-law is sometimes of such 
a character as to create estrangement within the village 
groupings and with the girl’s own family. It also en- 
courages early marriage, which is bad when the persons 
have not attained biological maturity. It does, however, 
displace effectively infanticide. 


MATING AND MARRIAGE 


In describing and analyzing the mores of mating, it 
is well first to note the forms of preferential mating 
that exist in Phenix Village. The preferences can be 
made clear by the use of the following simplified and 
idealized relationship chart, Figure 7, although all the 
combinations can be discerned in Figure 6. 

All those marked C or C’ are siblings, have the same 
surname, and under the incest rule are not preferred 
as mates. They are parallel cousins, father’s brother’s 
children,! and marriage among them is taboo. C5, 
C6, C’7, C’8 are not preferred mates. It is on this 
basis that the sib is called exogamous. So strictly 


1 Lowie, R. H., Primitive Society, p. 26. 


THE FAMILY AND THE SIB 167 


is this rule observed that even though people from 
distant parts of China should move into a region they 
could not intermarry with people of the same surname, 
because they are regarded as siblings. When one realizes 
that the total number of family names in China is 
limited—theoretically to a hundred, but practically 
there are more—then the difficulty of finding suitable 
mates becomes quite great. This difficulty has been 
overcome by the acceptance of the following social 


4M 44 th © [eho 


wil @) 3] €) ler] © [ey] © 


FIG. 7. PREFERENTIAL MATING 


device: people of the same surname but five generations 
removed, may intermarry provided they have a name 
which may readily be changed and provided a slight 
change is made. There are some classic examples of 
this: ing is changed to muh by dropping one-half the 
character; wang is changed to wi by adding a dot. 
Mates with no blood connection at all may be, and 
theoretically are, preferred. But suitable mates of 
this kind may not be available because of the surname 
limitation of the range ofselection. It isnot uncommon, 
therefore, that first cousins by blood through the father’s 
sister may intermarry but only under certain circum- 


168 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


stances. There is in fact a limited sort of cross-cousin 
marriage. Thus C6 can marry B3, 1.e., a girl may 
marry her father’s sister’s son; but C5 may not marry 
B4,i.e.,a boy may not marry his father’s sister’s daugh- 
ter. The latter marriage is taboo because of the tra- 
ditional attitude that the boy has only his father’s 
blood and the girl has only her mother’s blood. B3 is 
considered to have the blood of B, the fathér; while 
B4 is thought to have the blood of B, the mother. But 
the mother has the blood of C5 because C5, being a son, 
has the blood of his father C, who is brother to the. 
mother B. In other words B4 and her mother are con- 
ventionalized, so far as mating is concerned, into siblings, 
but they are not practical members of the paternal sib. 

At, A2, B3 and B4 can intermarry because they are 
not siblings and so possess different surnames, even 
though they are closely united by blood. 

These ranges of preferential matings indicate that the 
taboos are quite conventional, although originally there 
was a notion of the undesirability of too close connection 
by blood as is shown in the prohibited type of cross- 
cousin mating. The incest rule applies on a conventional 
but not ona biological basis. 

Exogamy was previously a customary value but 
recently it has been incorporated into law.! Legally 
cross-cousin marriage is prohibited by law, but custom 
and not law still rules in Phenix Village in these matters. 
The most superficial study of the Manchu laws, followed 
by a comparison of them with customs all over China, 
reveals a multitude of such discrepancies. 

There is no levirate in Phenix Village but there have 
been some cases of sororate. There is no fixed attitude 
on this matter; it is not enjoined by social opinion, but 


1 Jamieson, op. cit., pp. 38 f. 


THE FAMILY AND THE SIB 169 


it has happened. These cases could hardly, therefore, 
be called true sororate, for a man can only marry one 
woman; in which case the sisters would have subordinate 
positions as concubines. The reason given for taking 
the younger sister or sisters of the wife as concubines, 
is that familist harmony would be assured. 

Rules for the selection of secondary mates as con- 
cubines are not so definitely formulated and promulgated. 
In general they follow those concerning the selection 
of the wife. There is this difference: in selecting a 
primary mate the economic-family head, acting for the 
group asa whole, determines the matter; while in selecting 
a concubine, the man himself is the judge. In the 
former case, the arrangement is a familist one; in the 
second, a personal one. Primary mating is conventional; 
secondary, is based on sex-love. The exception to this 
is when a husband selects a secondary mate instead 
of a servant or slave. 

Other values must be taken into consideration in the 
selection of mates that cause certain girls to be preferred 
above others even when the surnames differ. For 
example, the wealth, scholarship, prestige of a family 
from which a girl is selected must be either better or 
equal to the boy’s family. This rule does not apply 
in the selection of the secondary mate. In fact it could 
not, for secondary mates are cases of clear purchase 
and well-to-do families consider it a disgrace to marry 
their daughters as concubines. Only poor families that 
need the purchase price would submit to such practice. 
A man may then secure by purchase any poor but desir- 
able mate as a concubine with limitations set only by 
his own taste and judgment. Preferential mating prac- 
tices in the case of the first wife are mores; those in con- 
nection with the concubine are folkways. 


170 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


Under these limitations and according to the foregoing 
values, the mating mores must be carried out. Inasmuch 
as the only conventions of effecting a selection of a 
concubine are personal judgment, purchase and delivery, 
no more attention at present will be given to practices 
of secondary mating. In the case of the first wife, the 
betrothal practices are fixed, highly conventionalized, 
have a long history, and are scrupulously followed. 

Children are betrothed quite young, usually between 
eight and ten years of age. Betrothal is always con- 
summated through the office of a go-between or match- 
maker. This person may be a relative or an outsider; 
he may be amateur or professional. It is the business 
of the match-maker to negotiate the pre-marriage 
arrangements in a way satisfactory to both parties, in 
which case his own fortunes are likely to be improved 
through gifts or a commission. 

The initial steps may be taken in three different ways: 
a match-maker may suggest to either a boy’s family 
or a girl’s family that the time has come to select a mate, 
whereupon the authorities may give him right to pro- 
ceed; a boy’s chia-chang may himself call in a match- 
maker to proceed to the selection of a mate; or, as is 
usually the case, the father of a girl will write the girl’s 
eight characters, the hour, day, month and the year 
of her birth, then go to a match-maker and ask that 
person to find a desirable family. He may specify 
which family he considers most satisfactory. 

Once the match-maker is given the right to proceed 
with negotiations, he then visits around until he finds 
two families who agree in a preliminary way to test out 
a betrothal. This is followed by an exchange between 
the two families of the red cards on which are inscribed 
the eight characters and the name of the chia-chang of 


THE FAMILY AND THE SIB 171 


the child involved. This information is necessary for 
the determination of the acceptability of the boy and 
girl as marriage-mates. 

The cards are then taken by either the father of the 
boy or the match-maker to a fortune-teller to divine 
the horoscopes of the two children. If, according to 
the astrological charts of harmonious and antipathetic 
qualities that are deemed to be associated with definite 
hours, days, months and years of birth, the birth times 
of the two people supplement or complement or har- 
monize with each other, then they are deemed suitable 
marriage-mates. 

The potential marriage-mates never see each other 
during the betrothal negotiations and their own personal 
consent is not essential. Usually they behold each other 
for the first time on the day of marriage. Selection of 
mates is thus made on a highly conventionalized basis. 
Not only do the persons themselves have nothing to 
do with the selection of primary mates, but even the 
heads of the economic families play only a secondary 
and initiatory rdle. They may agree on an alliance 
satisfactory to them but if the horoscopes are not favor- 
ably divined, the betrothal may not be consummated. 
Thus is the matter finally taken out of the hands of 
people entirely and put into the realm of spirit. 

Fate decides all things. Fate determined the time 
of birth and it will determine the hour of death, the 
manner of death, and the experiences between birth 
and death. It is useless to strive against fate. All 
one can do is to learn the will of fate and conform in the 
best possible way. One may try to outwit fate but 
sooner or later one is doomed to defeat. Such are the 
attitudes that people hold regarding the great events 
and experiences of life. As children they are taught 


172 COUNTRY \LIRECINGSOU THC Riis 


these things; they are told stories that illustrate how 
people refuse to conform to fate in marriage matters only 
to discover finally that fate rules all. Children adopt 
these attitudes and come to believe that only by divina- 
tion can they discover the mate that fate intended for 
them. When the horoscope is favorable they regard 
the decision as the revelation of fate and are quite willing 
and ready to abide by it. 

Sociologically this spiritual sanction of the marriage 
is considered in some mysterious way to represent the 
will of ancestors. No one knows exactly what fate is, 
but the belief is that somehow the spirits of departed 
ancestors play an important réle in the destiny of the 
living. The children are trained to believe that these 
matters are quite beyond their control and understand- 
ing; all they can do is to acquiesce and exhibit filial 
piety by being obedient. These attitudes hold firmly 
the individual who would otherwise vary and revolt 
from this type of social control. It is doubtful whether 
without this spiritual sanction, back of which is the 
social opinion of the village community, young persons 
could be made to abide by betrothal arrangements when 
they grow to maturity. When spiritual sanctions are 
added to social sanctions the controls become doubly 
effective. Only by understanding these attitudes toward 
fate can a Westerner appreciate why so many of the 
marriages are successful. In truth, Phenix Village 
marriages ‘‘are made in heaven.”’ 

When the red card is first sent to the girl’s family, 
the boy’s family sends with it cakes or sweets. This step 
in the negotiations is called popularly ‘‘asking the name’”’ 
and ‘‘eating sweets.’’ Once the red cards are exchanged, 
the details of the negotiations accepted, the betrothal 
is concluded and is tantamount to a legal contract. If 


THE FAMILY AND THE SIB 173 


neglected or disregarded the offended party may sue 
in court. Upon the conclusion of these arrangements 
the girl’s family distributes the sweets throughout the 
neighborhood and announces the betrothal of the daugh- 
ter to “‘so-and-so.’’ Thus is created an area of gossip 
about the matter, which provides the basis for social 
opinion that makes for the consummation of the 
agreements. | 

Usually there is money involved in betrothal nego- 
tiations, either as definite purchase, as among the poor, 
or as gifts, among the rich. It is the chief business of 
the match-maker to relieve the contracting parties of 
possible embarrassment by conducting all the nego- 
tiations between them relative to the details of 
obligations. 

With the red card that is sent to the girl’s family, 
after a satisfactory report upon the eligibility of the 
children as mates by the diviner, must be sent money 
and possibly gifts. Usually the boy’s family will at 
that time send about one hundred dollars. Among the 
poor, the boy’s family may send four dollars, twenty- 
four dollars or forty dollars, according to their resources 
and the agreement reached through the match-maker. 
Sometimes, in addition to sweets and money, silk cloth 
is sent to the girl’s family. Theoretically at this time 
the money involved is simply a gift and is supposedly 
not fixed by the match-maker and the parties involved . 
and, therefore, is not to be taken as a purchase price. 
The match-maker is supposed to arrange for the details 
of further moneys and gifts. Practically, however, the 
match-maker does have a part in the determination of 
these preliminary evidences of goodwill through his 
conversations with the parties about the status and 
wealth of the families concerned. 


174 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


Among the poorer families this money is taken as 
a guarantee that the bride will have the necessary 
articles for her comfort when she joins her husband’s 
family. So in the negotiations the practice has arisen 
for the boy’s family to specify the articles that the 
bride will bring with her, presumably purchased by the 
money sent from the boy’s family. Certain poor families 
try to purchase much less furniture than the amount 
would warrant so as to keep the remainder. Such 
tactics sometimes cause the monetary aspects to 
become pure purchase of a bride. Cases have been 
known where purchase was effected as coldly as that of 
any chattel in the market place. Generally the poorer 
families ask more money and less furnishings. 

Among the rich, however, money is kept in the bade 
ground. They negotiate more about furnishings and 
property inheritance than about money. So the boy’s 
family stipulates what the girl’s family shall send with 
the bride. Such things might be a table, two long 
benches, a bureau, a chest of drawers, a bathtub, toilet 
bucket, bed covers, wine cups and wine pot, tea cups 
and tea pot, ivory chopsticks, two clothes boxes, wash 
basin, and a pewter bowl with a plate cover on which 
olives are placed, which accompany the bride when she 
goes to her husband’s home, and are put in the guest 
room for exhibit the first few days of the marriage 
ceremony. Where there is such definite specification 
of what the girl’s family shall send in exchange for the 
gifts of money sent by the boy’s family the practice 
can hardly be called marriage by purchase. Apparently, 
marriage by purchase is deemed a negative value in 
Phenix Village. 

Beyond what the girl’s family can provide or does 
furnish the bride, they are expected to supply her with 


THE FAMILY AND THE SIB 175 


clothes, There is no stipulation as to quantity or 
quality. They are determined by the pleasure and the 
resources of the girl’s family. In brief, the custom is 
to expect the girl’s family to send with the bride what- 
ever she will need for her own room and her own personal 
use in the home of her husband. 

Sometimes, however, when the family of the girl is 
very rich it will accept no gifts from the boy’s family 
but will provide the girl upon her departure from home 
with money ranging in amount from several hundred 
to several thousands of dollars, perhaps a few acres 
of land and even two maidservants. In such a case there 
is no hint of purchase in any form. If the girl’s father 
gives the title deed for the land to the girl herself, upon 
her death the land is inherited by her posterity only; 
otherwise, it reverts to the family of her father. While 
she is alive the husband has practical authority and 
control over her possessions and enjoys the usufruct 
of them. He may even sell her lands if necessary for 
the support of their common descendants. Such prac- 
tices among the rich are instances of conspicuous display 
that enhance the prestige and status of the family. 

About ten years after betrothal the date for the 
marriage ceremonies is fixed. Table XII (page 176) 
throws some light on the age of marriage. In the cases 
given, the age for girls is approximately eighteen years 
and for boys, from one year to a year and a half younger. 
These ages are arrived at by an analysis of the data con- 
tained in Figure 6 where the ages of the mothers and 
fathers and children are inscribed within the circles and 
squares. By subtracting the age of the oldest child and 
making the necessary corrections, the exact age can be 
secured. Girls are commonly older than boys at mar- 
riage, contrary to what one might expect. 


176 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


TABLE XII 


AGE AT MARRIAGE OF NINE MOTHERS 
AND FOUR FATHERS 





Age of Age of Age of Mother 
Mother Oldest Child at First Birth 

(1) (2) (3) 

60 39 2I 

39 21 18 

40 18 22 

2I 3 18 

a7 17 20 

43 21 22 

‘oi hy 21 

27 II 16 

27 10 17 


Average 19 Years, 8 Months 
Correction 18 Years, 11 Months 
Correction for Chinese Count 17 Years, 11 Months 





Age of Age of Age of Father 
Father Oldest Child at First Birth 
39 2I 18 
21 3 18 
36 17 19 
45 27 18 


Average 18 Years, 3 Months 
Correction 17 Years, 6 Months 
Correction for Chinese Count 16 Years, 6 Months 


NoTE: The first correction is made to take account of the probable period 
of pregnancy; the second is made because the Chinese state their age as includ- 
ing the first birthday. They count birthdays instead of years so that one birth- 
day must be subtracted to change the figure into a unit of years. 


Formerly marriages were entirely familist arrange- 
ments and the government took no part in them. Now, 
however, the law requires that all marriages be registered 


THE FAMILY AND THE SIB 177 


through the securing of a license for marriage. People 
nowadays who are married without licenses are punished 
by the local government. People of Phenix Village secure 
their licenses and register their marriages with the 
mayor of Chaochow. 

But first the marriage date must be fixed. The pro- 
cedure is as follows: The boy’s family selects a good day 
for the marriage through the assistance of the necro- 
mancers or diviners who, on the basis of the eight char- 
acters, manipulate sixty characters to discover whether 
the date desired by the boy’s family harmonizes with 
fate as embodied in the birth characters. When a 
satisfactory date is recommended by the diviners, the 
families are notified. The interval between the fixation 
of the date and the actual marriage is not a predeter- 
mined one. At the same time the diviners discover the 
date when, according to the old custom, the boy’s hair 
should be plaited and the girl’s hair put up in a knot. 
With the introduction of the new fashion, the boys of 
Phenix Village cut their hair and wearnocue. Formerly, 
the boy’s hair was braided by some old man who was 
the father of many sons and the girl’s hair was knotted 
by an old woman who had been the mother of many 
children. At this same time, the diviners also indicate 
the date on which the boy’s family must send the re- 
mainder of the money agreed upon at the time of 
betrothal negotiations in order to fulfill that contract. 


THE WEDDING 


_ Within a month after the fixing of the hair the mar- 
Tiage ceremonies are held. On the day of the marriage 
the girl rises before five o’clock. The exact time is 
determined from a calendar that tells what is the best 
Moment to arise on that particular day. She then takes 





178 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


a bath, puts on the special wedding undergarments, 
and passes the time as usual, waiting until the hour 
determined from the almanac as the proper moment 
to eat breakfast with her brothers and sisters. Then 
she partakes of special food: chicken, pig’s heart, fish, 
crabs and noodles. The last must be eaten from a dragon 
bowl. Afterwards she puts on her wedding gown of 
red satin elaborately embroidered with gold thread, 
and without her veil goes to the ancestral hall of her 
own family and bows twice to her mother and father. 
This is her farewell. 

Then an escort—a man chosen by her father, who has 
had many sons, not necessarily a relative of the bride— 
leads her out of the home to the wedding chair, in which 
she is carried. to. her husband’s “home. If the parties 
to the marriage are rich, the wedding chair will be 
accompanied by a procession: band, banners inscribed 
with felicitous characters expressing wishes for happi-/ 
ness, long life, many sons, and so on, and the presents 
from the girl’s father that had not previously been sent 
to the boy’s home. Sometimes a relative will walk before 
the chair with red pillows. The presents that precede 
the chair are such as earrings, bracelets, rings, hair) 
ornaments, clothes, bedcovers, and furniture for the\ 
bride’s own room. There may also be food for the 
wedding feast to be carried before or after the chair. ; 

When the procession arrives at the bridegroom’s 
house, an escort—a man selected by the boy’s father 
on the basis of ‘‘age and many sons’’—goes out to meet — 
the bride. The person who has acted as match-maker 
lifts up the curtain of the bridal chair while the escort 
leads out the bride and conducts her to the bridal cham- 
ber. She sits down anywhere in this room and awaits 
the bridegroom. 


THE FAMILY AND THE SIB 179 


_ ~The bridegroom arises at any time on the morning 

: of his wedding day, lives as usual until the time for the 

approach of the chair. Then he puts on a wedding 
gown of blue silk. He waits around in his home until 
the chair arrives, when his relatives call him out to 
carry in the two red pillows. These he places in the 
bridal chamber. Then he joins the wedding feast 
provided by the girl’s family for the invited guests and 
drinks wine with them. 

The bride does not leave the bridal chamber to partake 

_ of the wedding feast with the guests. She eats in her 

- own room the things that she ate at home. Nor does 
she pour wine for the guests as is the custom in many 
places in China. She does not drink wine from the 
same pot with her husband. She simply waits in the 
room, and when any of the guests wish, they come to 
her door and view her, whereupon out of respect, she 
arises and stands with head bowed. Sometimes, the 
guests crack jokes at her expense but she is not supposed 
to notice their remarks. At this time, she does not 
worship in the ancestral hall. 

After the wedding day, the bride remains in her 
room living with her husband. After three days she 
goes out before breakfast and burns incense before 
S Ming Gung, a small shrine in the ancestral hall of the 
husband’s home. (See Figure 5. The shrine is located 
on the table designated 1 in this chart.) Then she 
waits upon her new parents and bows to them. This 
act announces to her parents-in-law that she recognizes 
them as her parents from now on. The wife is supposed 
to transfer complete allegiance to her new parents. The 
act of worship announces to the household gods that 
she has come among them and now belongs to their 
dominion. Thereafter she will worship at the shrine 


180 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


regularly on the first and fifteenth of each month by 
burning incense and bowing. Then she returns to her 
own room. Later she goes to the kitchen that she is 
to use, cleans the table, places on it four dishes with 
oil, and cooks rice. This concludes the prescribed 
behavior connected with marriage and marks her ini- 
tiation into the household duties of her new home. 

After one month she visits her former parents and 
returns to her husband’s home immediately after eating 
with her own parents. Again after four months she 
repeats the visit. With these two visits her new husband 
could not interfere. They are the conclusion of all 
ceremonies for both families. Thereafter the wife may 
visit her parents according to the will of her husband, 
whois now her master. 

The ceremonies by which a new natural-family is 
set up are simple. They are constituted mainly to 
inform the community of the new relationship estab- 
lished. They induct the new member into the economic- 
family with felicitations for the husband. The formalism 
is practically all of such a character that it is clearly 
established for the sake of social opinion. The wishes 
or attitudes of the marriage mates play little or no 
part in the proceedings. It is entirely a familist practice 
for familistic objectives. 

The chief familist objective is male offspring. Sons 
and many of them is the principal familist value. To 
produce sons who shall mature and become active and 
productive members of the economic-family is the 
function of the natural-family. It has no other end in 
itself. It is purely a means to the attainment of the 
ends of the economic and religious units. The sons 
inherit, carry on the line of descent, worship ancestors, 
and so are necessary to familist and village continuity. 


en 


THE FAMILY AND THE SIB 181 


The marriage-group is set up conventionally to conform 
to the necessities of biological functionings in socially 
approved ways. That is why it is always subordinate 
to the economic or religious familist groupings except 
where it is identical with them. Identity seldom, if 
ever, exists at the time of formation of a natural-family 
or sex-group. 


FORMS OF MATING 


Monogamy is prevalent in Phenix Village. There are 
two reasons for this: polygyny or concubinage is 
expensive and most of the families can not afford 
concubines; polygyny at best must be limited by the 
fact that nature divides the sexes about equally, so 
that where marriage is expected of all men and women, 
unless there are single men or a surplus of women, it 
would be impossible for many men to have more than 
one wife. A few cases are monogamous on the basis 
of religious principle: Christian converts do not believe 
in concubinage. 

But concubinage in Phenix Village is looked upon as 
a symbol of wealth and honor. Out of one hundred 
and eighty-two marriages there are fourteen cases 
of polygyny. 

Monogamy and polygyny are here seen together. A 
man is married only once unless he becomes a widower. 
He does not marry his concubines. He has a principal 
wife and subsidiary wives, but still he participates in 
ceremonies of marriage only in the case of the principal 
wife. 

There is one striking exception to all this which has 
held true through many centuries during the existence 
of this sib. Emigrants marry women abroad in addi- 
tion to their wives or concubines who were left in Phenix 


182 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


Village. These wives are considered as concubines and 
on that ground are accepted by the community. Actu- 
ally, social opinion has rationalized a situation that the 
community has been unable to do anything about. They 
have simply had to make the best of an untraditional 
practice. This is shown by the fact that the foreign 
wives hold positions of prestige in familist groups and 
in the village; sometimes they rank even above the 
first wives married in the village. They claim proper 
marriage according to the laws of the country in which 
they were married, and their children rank in inheritance 
equally with the children of the first wife. In these 
cases the relation must be called bigamous or polyg- 
amous, and in some cases also polygynous. A man 
may have a wife and one or two concubines, emigrate, 
properly marry another wife and bring her home. 
Generally, marriages are monogamous and polygynous. 


ANAGAMY 


Anagamy' exists in the sib but is limited almost en- 
tirely to those persons who are defective enough physi- 
cally to make marriage impossible, as in the case of the 


1A term coined to cover those people who have never mated in marriage 
sanctioned by the community. It may include phenomena of prostitution but 
is broader, for all anagamous persons are not necessarily permanent or temporary 
prostitutes, whether male or female. In Western countries there are many 
anagamous persons who never enter into heterosexual relations. 

Persons to be included under this category would, of course, have to be of 
a marriageable age, biologically or conventionally, or both, depending upon the 
people under investigation; conventionally, because among some groups marriage 
of children even before puberty is practiced, so that the criterion of conven- | 
tionality would then negate results secured solely on a basis of biological matu- 
rity. Where the latter is found anagamy is likely to be rare indeed. 

In Phenix Village the marriageable age would be sixteen years and over. 
Practically, however, social opinion is tolerant of anagamous persons in the 
earlier years of marriageability. It would be reasonable, then, to take the up- 
ward limit as approximately twenty-one years. For the statements in the text 
concerning anagamy in this village the downward limit of twenty-one years is 


THE FAMILY AND THE SIB 183 


leprous. There is neither acceptance nor approval of 
anagamy in Phenix Village, such as is found in the 
United States, for example. Community experience 
places it squarely in the list of negative values for all 
persons. While instances of people who are not and 
never have been married do occur, they are the excep- 
tions that prove the rule. The above is further evidenced 
by the fact that those responsible frequently smuggle 
into marriage persons with clearly recognized physical 
defect, as the case of the girl who, when married, learned 
for the first time of the insanity of her marriage-mate. 
(See Fig. 6, p. 157—IV, 20-1). Such atrocities are 
possible under the system of absentee match-making 
prevalent in the village. 

The absence of anagamy is to be accounted for in 
terms of conventionality—filial piety and ancestor- 
worship value-complexes. That anagamy will become 
important as these complexes disintegrate and lose 
prestige and as the men and particularly the women 
gain economic and social independence, is quite certain. 
Although it may take some time for the following to 
be true in Phenix Village, cases of anagamy, not socially 
disapproved, are rapidly increasing in the international 
and industrialized centers of China, such as Shanghai. 
adopted, because it corresponds to complete maturity biologically and because 
it appears to be from the limited data at hand (Table XII) the maximum age 
of social toleration for anagamy. 

For countries such as the United States, the limit of classification is not so 
readily set because of the flexibility of attitudes towards anagamy. It might 
be suggested, however, that for conservative communities in the United States, 
the age of majority, or twenty-one years, would best demarcate those persons 
who, still unmarried, would be classified as anagamous. For progressive com- 
munities, such as large urban areas usually are, perhaps twenty-five or thirty 
years would be better limits to adopt. Even the latter would vary as between 
men and women, and men and women in different economic, social, occupational 
or professional classes. The lower social groups tend to marry early; the higher, 


late. Generally women are to-day considered to be ‘‘on the shelf’’ if anagamous 
at thirty or beyond, but men are allowed further consideration. 


184 COUNTRY, LIFE SIN SOUTH Giri? 


Whether the design of the ancestral homes was deliber- 
ately worked out for the accommodation of polygynous 
familism or for familist pluralism it is not possible to 
determine. Certain it is, however, that the plan does 
fit either case. The four different kitchens with their 
convenient suites of rooms (Figure 5) could accommodate 
one husband with three concubines and their children 
under one economic arrangement but with a degree of 
separation for each sub-group or a number of distinct 
natural-families or economic-families, administering their 
affairs collectively or separately as the case might be. 


DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE 


The dissolution of marriage occurs through separa- 
tion, divorce and death. Husbands emigrate and never 
return. Divorce is not a problem in the village. No 
single case of divorce was found nor could one be remem- 
bered by any of the informants. If a wife should be 
guilty of adultery, instead of divorcing her the husband 
will subject her to the condemnation of social opinion 
and cause her to commit suicide. If the husband does 
not like his wife, he may take a concubine whom he can 
like or he may emigrate and in foreign parts find the mate 
of his own choice. Even in the case of adultery, the 
husband would prefer to kill his wife himself than to 
divorce her. The latter would be considered much more 
disgraceful. Traditionally a man could divorce his 
wife for any one of seven reasons: disobedience to 
husband’s parents; sterility; dissolute conduct; jealousy 
toward other mates or concubines; incurable disease; 
talkativeness; and thieving. There were three limita- 
tions to the foregoing: if she has no home to return to; 
if she has passed with her husband through three years 
of mourning for his parents; if the husband were poor 


THE FAMILY AND THE SIB 185 


and had become rich. None of these obtain in Phenix 
Village, for the people do not divorce for any reason. 

Emigration and death are the two forms of dissolu- 
tion. The former occurs with increasing frequency 
but the great dissolver of marriage is death. Where the 
death of a husband occurs in a natural-family that is 
a part of an economic-family, the chia-chang looks after 
the kith and kin. If the wife dies the husband may 
marry again. At any rate so long as he is not the chia- 
chang, he and his children remain under the jurisdiction 
of and live by the support of the chia-chang of the eco- 
nomic family. Re-marriage for a widow is strictly taboo. 

The burial practices all show that the departed person 
has merely transferred residence from the living to 
the spirit sib-community. The two are joined in one 
whole by the ceremonies of mourning and ancestral 
worship. 

Formerly, the village folk were buried on the hill- 
sides. Recently, in 1916, they have built a graveyard in 
Tan Tou in which lie the distinguished ancestors, male 
and female. It is about twenty-five by thirty feet, built 
four feet above ground and surrounded by a battle- 
mented wall. A polished granite slab marks the re- 
mains of a grandmother whose name before marriage 
was Jwin. The slab was simply carved: ‘‘The grave 
of mother . . . ,née Dwan Seh Jwin.’’ Beside 
this is the unmarked grave of another grandmother. 
So within a stone’s throw of the village on ancient an- 
cestral lands are laid to rest the honored ones of the 
village community. Their graveyard is a collective 
representation of the spiritual part of the village com- 
munity and is just as concrete a symbol as the tablet 
in the ancestral cabinet where the spirits are supposed 
to dwell among the living. 


186 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


Before the chia-chang dies he usually divides his 
property among his descendants. This occurs after 
his children have all matured, are married and form 
natural-families. Thereafter all these natural-families 
administer their affairs independently and so form 
economic-families. They may all live in the same 
ancestral home but they live independently. The old 
parents, and other remnants of fractured groups live 
with them and take their meals from family to family 
in turn. There is no primogeniture; each is treated 
alike. The property is inherited equally. 


THE ALMANAC 


All familist ceremonies and observances of red-letter 
days are held according to the almanac. Illustration 
XIII shows the format of the calendar. At the top of 
each column, enclosed by solid lines, is the solar date; 
beneath that are indicated the birthdays of gods, etc., 
—the “‘saints days.’’ Next beneath is the lunar calendar 
with the signs of the zodiac designated according to 
the I Ching or Book of Change. Finally, at the bottom 
of the page and occupying most of the space of each 
section, is a detailed description of each date under the 
zodiacal influence and what that influence is for cere- 
monies, religious and social. When people cannot read 
the instructions and advice, they simply select those 
days under which most of the text occurs, for they 
consider the large sections or the sections printed in 
red ink as particularly felicitous for important occasions. 

This copy was secured from one of the homes in the 
village immediately after it had been used to determine 
the date of a certain ceremony. In it are found other 
helpful materials to guide the villager through life. The 
title page with author, place and date of publication is 





XIII. THE ALMANAC: THE GUIDE OF FAMILIST LIFE 





LIBRARY 
OF THE 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 





THE FAMILY AND THE SIB 187 


properly executed. Then follows an edict of homely 
instructions. After that is presented the explanation 
and interpretation of a metaphysical philosophy ac- 
cording to the meaning of two character Lz, principle, 
and Chi, breath. The zodiacal diagram, which is the 
basis of all necromancy, is included. So also is a medical 
prescription which purports to be a panacea for all ills. 
Next comes a classified index of dates of good luck ar- 
ranged according to the plan of the zodiacal diagram. 
Finally, there is the calendar already described and 
analyzed, and then a list of seasonal changes for the 
years. 

Such is the character of the pattern upon which vil- 
lage life builds up. Village custom and values are here 
precipitated and crystallized into printed form which 
guarantees stability of convention. None can go wrong 
with this guide of life. It corresponds to the “family 
Bible”’ of the devout in Western society. By scrupulously 
following the admonitions and directions of this almanac, 
the fortunes of the family grow and happiness is won 
by all. 


DEFINITION OF FAMILISM 


Familist arrangements and practices are the core of 
the village community. All purposes, all proposals, all 
conduct, all gains, all standards and ideals are referred 
to and evaluated by comparison with the fortunes of 
familist groupings, economic, religious and sib. What- 
ever conduces to the welfare of the members of these 
familist groups, to the performance of their special 
functions, maintenance or worship, is good; everything 
else is bad. All village life centers about these familist 
groups. Polity, maintenance, education, art, religion, 
play—all lead out from and contribute to the economic- 


188 COUNTRY) CIFE IN SOUTH GHiIna 


and religious-families. This is the basis of a kind of 
society distinctive from any other in the world. ° If 
capitalism may be defined as that kind of social organiza- 
tion in which all values are determined by reference to 
profits; if socialism can be defined as one in which all 
values are referred to common welfare of the larger 
group; familism must be defined as a form of social 
organization 1n which all values are determined by refer- 
ence to the maintenance, continuity and functions of the 
family groups. As such, the community here called 
Phenix Village stands out as an illustration of one of 
the world’s great forms of social organization—familism. 

What will happen to familism when it comes to grips 
with capitalism, individualism, socialism, none will be 
so bold as to prophesy. This much is clear—familism 
has its own defensive technic and will offer a strong 
resistance to encroachments from these other great 
social systems of the world. 


CHAPTER WIT 


ASSOCIATIONS 


In addition to the familist groupings, Phenix Village 
“contains a number of social groups of an artificial or 


intentional character. The basis of membership in 


‘them is similarity of attitudes with reference to the 
objectives or values commonly recognized by the mem- 
bers. People are born into familist groupings but they 
choose to join these associations. The members con- 
stantly shift and change so that the composition of the 
groups is not permanently fixed. 
_ They are all formed to meet a clearly recognized 
need, which may be present and temporary or in the 
“nature of a future contingency. In the latter case the 
-association develops an organization that provides 
sufficient continuity to keep it going until its functions 
-have been completed. In one way or another, the 
-groups function for protection, economic gain, and 
-recreation. The means used may be thought of as mutual 
aid devices. In practically all of them sociability appears 
quite definitely during their meetings and assemblies. 
The six different associations in Phenix Village are 
the Mutual Aid Club, the Parent Burial Association, 
the Society for the Manufacture of Sugar, the Irrigation 
Club, the Boxing Club, and the Music Club. In each 
case the purpose of the association is clearly suggested 
by the name. ) 


THE MUTUAL AID CLUB 


| 
| 
_ The Mutual Aid Club is usually of a very temporary 
| aia It lasts until each member gets his money 
: 


190 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


returned in cash and feasts, when it dissolves auto- 
matically without ceremony. «It arises out of the needs 
of the poor people on the one hand and the refusal of 
the rich families to give loans without sufficient securities, 
on the other. When a number of poor villagers find 
themselves in similar circumstances of financial need, 
they turn to each other for help. 

The method of providing this aid has been worked 
out into a practicable mutual aid device. For example, 
a certain man needs fifty dollars, presumably for some 
worthy purpose. He goes to those in the village who are 
most friendly toward him and who are in similar sit- 
uations of need and asks them to join his “‘club.’’ He 
explains his need, the amount of money he wishes to 
raise, suggests the amount each should pay, which in 
turn determines the number of people who may be 
allowed to join. 

In this instance, when he has found ten persons who © 
are willing to pay him five dollars each, he has the 
money he needs. Perhaps a few weeks or a month 
later, he invites them all to a feast, which costs him 
about five dollars. This is his first repayment on the 
instalment plan. The organizer does not pay back in 
cash but in the feasts which he provides at a cost equal 
to the amount paid to him by each member. Usually 
about one month intervenes between each festive 
occasion. In a club of ten persons in addition to the 
organizer, it takes ten months until the club ceases to 
exist. The organizer thus secures with interest, for the 
first month, fifty dollars, after which he has five dollars 
less each month until the tenth month when the loan 
is repaid. 

At the first feast each member casts dice once and 
the one who throws the highest score is paid five dollars 


ASSOCIATIONS IgI 


by every member of the club except the organizer; in 
this case, the sum amounts to forty-five dollars. The 
difference between the total he pays into the club during 
its existence and the amount paid him when he wins his 
turn is his contribution to the costs of the feasts.4 

At the following feasts the procedure is repeated 
until each has been paid his forty-five dollars. Thus 
each man pays in fifty dollars, gets out forty-five in 
cash, which he has the use of as a lump sum, according 
to his fortunes in winning his turn to receive this amount 
early in the series of payments. Besides, he does the 
organizer a favor which may stand him in good stead 
if he should ever want to organize a club, enjoys the 
feasts with the food, the companionship and conviviality. 

Table XIII (page 192) shows how the plan works out 
in practice. By reckoning the interest on the money each 
person pays out and what he receives at the rates of 
two per cent and ten per cent, one can see the probable 
ranges of gains or losses accruing to each member. 
These rates are very low, for not infrequently interest 
rates on loans run as high as twenty per cent per month. 

While this method is frequently used, the exact 
details of it may vary from time to time according to 
the wishes of the members. For example, instead of 
the plan analyzed in Table XIII, each member may 
take turns in providing a feast. Instead of throwing 
dice for the determination of the recipient of repayments, 
each may write on a slip of paper the lowest amount he 
is willing to receive on his capital payment, turn this 
over to the organizer who opens the bid and announces 
it to the group, making the award to that person who 
offers the greatest reduction. Or there may be no 
feasts at all, simply light refreshments or a gathering 
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IX ATaVL 


ASSOCIATIONS 193 


the various members, when the organizer is expected 
to pay in cash. In most cases, the capital investment 
in such associations ranges for each member from five 
to fifteen dollars. 

In appraising a social organization of this kind, it 
is necessary to remember that people enter into volun- 
tary associations when they discern some clear gain, 
when they think by so doing they can satisfy their 
wishes. The gain does not have to be economic; the 
fulfillment of a wish or complex of wishes is recognized 
as gain. The organizer determines upon the institution 
of such a club because he wishes first of all to add to his 
security by getting the money he needs. The wishes 
for personal recognition also secure at least partial 
satisfaction in the friendships of the club; and new ex- 
perience is enjoyed in the conviviality and fun of the 
feasts and meetings, thus adding a very definite recrea- 
tional feature in a community with few opportunities 
for escape from monotony. How far the wish for domi- 
nance is involved depends upon the use to which the 
organizer may put the money which the members ad- 
vance to him. The organizer is the leader of the club; 
without doubt his position as leader affords him some 
satisfaction for his wish for superiority. In so far as the 
money he gets helps him successfully to manage or 
improve his financial affairs he thereby insures his status 
in the community. He is able to continue to play his 
role as he conceives that rdle to be, which is the impor- 
tant aspect of satisfying a wish for dominance or public 
recognition. 

But what intentions lead others to choose member- 
ship in these organizations? All these wishes in various 
combinations enter into their motivation. The sociabil- 
ity element for the ordinary members is probably the 


194 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


greatest attraction, especially when the club offers feasts. 
The talk, the banter, the gossip all provide recreation 
tinged with an overtone of physical satisfaction over 
the good food and wine. The gambling element in the 
use of dice or the bids on the slips of paper provides new 
experience, a thrill, and dominance for the winner. 
Especially would this be true where a man received 
his repayment early in the history of the club. Then his 
social self enjoys a feeling of expansion as he receives 
from the other members their regular stipulated pay- 
ments. His personal use of the money may further his 
interests and enhance his economic fortunes,—his 
security, which in turn may provide him with an im- 
proved status in the community. The commonly recog- 
nized reason for entrance into such a club is not so much 
the friendliness to the organizer, the feasts with their 
sociability, the excitement in the gambling—these are 
all adventitious and additional—but the chance to 
save or to win money. 

The fundamental purpose of the club is always mutual 
aid; each thinks he will be able to meet his own financial 
needs better by joining the association. This character- 
istic is persistent. The other functions vary according 
to the personal differences of the members. Sociability 
may vary from zero up in any particular case; so also 
new experience: but personal recognition is a result of 
every such grouping. Even in the purely financial agree- 
ments where there are no feasts or teas, the organizer 
must have the confidence and friendship of the members. 

While friendship, is. persistent in such associations 
in Phenix Village, it does not necessarily exist in similar 
associations in the cities. There the nexus may be 
purely perceived opportunity for economic gain and the 
persons joining may be mere acquaintances of the or- 


ASSOCIATIONS 195 


ganizer who are willing to chance their luck. But the 
familist attitudes in the village and the primary face- 
to-face relationships which reénforce them, make friend- 
liness important in the institution of such a voluntary 
grouping in this rural situation. 

A further function of this type of association is shown 
in the organization of the group. Anyone with friends 
enough can organize a group. As the organizer, he is 
the leader. When it is remembered that the ordinary 
person in Phenix Village has no citizenship status in 
himself, that as a member of the several familist groups, 
economic, religious or sib, his personal desires are made 
strictly to conform to tradition and common law, and 
that his only chance for leadership which is embodied 
in his social system is likely to be that over the members 
of his natural-family,—and it is even there highly limited 
by the rights and duties of his chza-chang—then it can 
readily be seen that such associations afford quite an 
opportunity for the expression of a natural tendency 
to leadership. 

There are, in fact, few people in the world who do not 
at some time or other long for a chance to stand out 
before their fellows and enjoy the feeling of superiority. 
Desire for leadership is not confined to economic classes 
nor to specific kinds of human aggregations. It is found 
among all peoples, in all classes, and in all human situa- 
tions—villages as well as cities. The leadership in 
such societies rotates among the various villagers who 
comprise them. The practice is a societal device of 
great personal significance. 

Motivation in membership comprises a complex of 
attitudes: tendency to enhance the economic status, 
desire for companionship, gossip, gambling, leadership, 
and service to one in need who is at the same time a 


196 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


relative. The advancement of any one member of 
the familist group is in a way the advancement of all. 

Finally, the democratic implications of this type of 
group functioning and organization can not now be 
satisfactorily determined for lack of sufficiently objective 
criteria. The leadership experience gained in organizing 
such societies is of a very limited character both quan- 
titatively and qualitatively. It can not be assumed at 
all that the habits developed in such group leadership 
would suffice for more complicated needs of civism. It 
is true, however, that the fundamental notion embodied 
in this type of voluntary association for mutual aid is 
identical with democratic social organization. It would 
seem, then, that any extension or development of civism 
which would be desired by new leaders in Phenix Village 
might be built upon these spheres of recognized need 
and of responsibility because of the feature of inter- 
dependence amongst the members. New education 
for civistic arrangements could well found upon the 
associational attitudes as exemplified in the Mutual 
Aid Club. 


THE PARENT BURIAL ASSOCIATION 


The Parent Burial Association partakes of this same 
characteristic of economic assistance. Its purpose is 
fundamentally benevolent. In the past it has flourished 
among the poorer families. In recent times, however, 
even the rich families have found it worth while to join 
these associations. It is difficult for them by ordinary 
procedure, to find help during the period of mourning. 
At present there are two of these associations in Phenix 
Village. 

What is the need and what is the situation that give 
rise to this form of voluntary grouping? It has already 


ASSOCIATIONS 197 


been mentioned that over half the people of Phenix 
Village are dependent upon the other half in varying 
degrees. Poverty and death are haunting spectres of 
the poor. They roam through the village and inspire 
fear that is not physical but social. 

It is not that the villager fears death; his belief in 
Fate relieves him of that worry. But to think of his 
parent drawing near to the time of departure without 
adequate funds for proper rites and burial,—this is a 
real fear. To fail in the provision of rites, feasts, coffin, 
and funeral would be conduct the most unfilial and 
condemned by social opinion. The family would be 
disgraced and the prestige of the village lowered in the 
estimation of the regional community, so far as gossip 
would extend on the matter. 

Every one, rich or poor, must die; the son knows that 
the needs arising out of the parent’s death are inevitable. 
Foresight is required of the poor that the material means 
of the social requirements may not be lacking when 
the time comes. Such are the attitudes of the poor 
toward a familist crisis created by the death of a parent. 

That it is not death itself that primarily inspires the 
fear is further attested to by the fact that the rich 
families also need such associations. They have money 
and ordinarily are able to employ what help they need. 
They can finance the material needs of burial ceremonies. 
With them, as with the poor, the real fear is a fear of 
inability to meet the required demands of a parent’s 
death as prescribed by community tradition. With 
them, in contrast to the poor, the need is not for finances 
but for hands to help in the performance of the humble 
but necessary duties of laying out the corpse, mourning, 
and so on. The rich suffer but one need; the poor 
face two. 


198 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


The crisis that exists for rich and poor alike arises 
out of the superstitious attitudes of uneducated people 
toward touching or handling a dead body. The revulsion 
against it is deep-seated. The villagers consider a dead 
body unclean and likely to bring a curse upon those 
who come into close contact with it. Quite naturally, — 
few seek and all avoid as much as possible the giving 
of such assistance. So strong is this attitude of avoid- 
ance that often not even money can buy for the rich 
the assistance they need at such times. That is why, 
in order not to fail in their traditional duties, they too 
join the burial associations. 

Not only are people needed to handle the corpse and 
the coffin, but also to assist in the mourning rites. Wail- 
ers are needed to exhibit to the countryside the deep 
grief suffered through the departure of the respected 
parent. The more wailers, the greater the filial piety and, 
consequently, the greater the prestige the family achieves. 
This wailing is not a desirable occupation and villagers 
avoid it as much as possible. Rich and poor both find 
it difficult to secure mourners. Here the avoidance 
attitude is secondary to that regarding the corpse. Some- 
times the attitude is even transferred to members of 
the natural-family which has lost someone by death. 
People simply prefer to stay away from homes where 
there are dead bodies. 

Some societal device is clearly necessary in order to 
guarantee the performance of the death duties, the 
burial rites and ceremonies. The avoidance attitudes 
must be either neutralized or supplemented; otherwise 
the social and religious needs of the death-crisis cannot 
be met. The Parent Burial Association, by creating 
voluntary bonds of responsibility prior to the appearance 
of the specific and undesirable duties, represents familist 


ASSOCIATIONS 199 


technic of adjustment and resolution of the crisis of 
death. 

Inasmuch as historically the associations have been 
found chiefly among the poor, their groups may be re- 
garded as the types, while the forms that include the rich 
people are variants. The needs that the poor have to 
meet through their groups are greater than those of the 
rich, so one can expect to find more inclusive functions 
embedded in their organizations. 

Thus, for example, in order to prepare for the in- 
evitable, those who have aged parents organize them- 
selves into a Parent Burial Association with the definite 
intention of supplying for one another, as needed, 
money and labor. While the parents of the several 
members are still alive, the association is rather 
amorphous and rests simply on a general agreement to 
codéperate. The members may meet once a year, usually 
at the Chinese New Year, when they will hold a feast and 
drink wine to the health and long life of their parents. 
When one or more parents have died, on this occasion 
they also conduct religious worship in honor of the 
deceased. In such a case, the feast is turned into a 
part of the religious worship. 

Upon organizing anywhere from ten to thirty people 
in such an association, the members establish an entrance 
fee of two dollars per person. This money is then loaned 
out at the best interest rates available and constitutes 
the capital funds of this codperative society. When a 
parent dies, either father or mother, each member will 
contribute two dollars to the bereaved son. If this 
money should be inadequate for his needs, he would 
then secure a loan from the capital funds of the associa- 
tion. The use of these capital funds, however, is not 
limited to the needs of the death-crisis; a member may 


200 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


secure a loan from these funds whenever he faces a real 
financial need. 

At the time of a parent’ s death, in addition to the 
money contributed toward the burial. expenses, each 
member will send two persons who are to render assist-_ 
ance in any capacity, just as if they were performing 
the last rites for their own parents. This assistance 
is available until the parent is finally laid to rest in 
the graveyard. 

The association continues until the last parent of all 
the members is properly buried. Then it dissolves 
automatically for its functions have all been performed. 
It may last for years, depending upon the vitality of the 
parents and the filial care of the familist group for the 
parents. Old age is one of the chief familist values; 
every attention is showered upon the aged so that their 
lives may be long among their children. They are con- 
sidered an honor, not a burden. 

When it is remembered that often in China “face”’ 
leads many families to sink into financial sloughs from 
which they never extricate themselves because of the 
heavy expenses involved in burials, it will be clear that 
these codperatives provide a much needed assistance 
to the poor people. Their first worry is the purchase of 
the coffin; then there are the candles, the clothes, the 
priests, the wailers, the feasts, the long watches over 
the dead, the food and models of things needed by 
the dead in the spirit world, the determination of the 
site for the coffin by the diviner who must be paid for 
his services, the musicians and carriers in the funeral 
procession, the placing of the coffin, the piling of the 
earth in a mound over it and into a horse-shoe mound 
around it, the annual repairs and the worship at the 
grave during the Tsing Ming festival—all need financing. 


ASSOCIATIONS 201 


Ancestral worship and filial piety hang heavy stones 
about the necks of the living in Phenix Village as in 
others parts of China. True, the poor people may bury 
their dead with less ostentation and thus forego the 
joys of superiority; but the essential functions must 
be performed at any cost. The societal needs may be 
sacrificed to a large extent; the religious needs must 
be scrupulously fulfilled. Under such circumstances 
the Parent Burial Association is a very effective form 
of insurance against the claims of death. 

The religious complex involved in the basic attitudes 
of such associations makes analysis very complicated. 
The beliefs, ideals, standards and practices of ancestral 
worship in relation to the care and disposal of the dead, 
particularly the parents, will receive treatment in a 
later chapter. Here it is necessary to note first, that 
the simplest needs of the crisis—the care and laying out 
of the corpse—are primarily natural and are met in 
this association not by employed assistance but through 
the mutual aid of the members themselves. Through 
millennia of social experience and accretionary tradition, 
religious and community attitudes and values have 
become stereotyped into minute prescriptions for the 
disposal of the dead. The more ordinary community 
values—the elements of display that give ‘“‘face’’?— 
embodied in burial practices are reénforced powerfully by 
religious sentiments; the parent, and especially the 
departed one, is always an object about which much 
emotional response has been organized, due of course 
to familist education in filial piety. 

The residual attitudes are similar to those found in 
the Mutual Aid Club. The financial benefits are included 
in the Parent Burial Association: capital funds are used 
for aid as loans to members, the entrance fee creates a 


202 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


sort of mutual savings society, the member because 
of known advantages can feel more secure as to his 
economic crises, and the contribution from fellow-mem- 
bers upon the death of a parent is direct, immediate, 
and of real assistance when it is needed most. Finally, 
the intervals between the deaths of the parents of the 
various members distribute the burden of burial costs 
over long periods of time; and the instalments in each 
case are small. Each gets out what he puts in so that 
the gambling element is lacking in this form of voluntary 
grouping. 

In the feasts are to be found embedded recreational 
and sociability values even though they may be part of 
the religious worship of the dead parents of members. 
Wine is always used; it conduces to conviviality. 

Ability to provide proper burials secures to rich and 
poor a status in the community unthreatened by the 
criticism of social opinion and assures them of com- 
mendation for filial piety pragmatically expressed. Their 
unity with the living and dead parts of the village commu- 
nity is strengthened by their ability to conform to the 
practices of the centuries. Just because the familist 
attitudes of loyalty to kin have been so effectively 
inculcated by formal and informal education, the fear 
of isolation from one’s community is the ‘great 
fear.”’ 

To the economic advantages that accrue to members 
must, therefore, be added a sense of security due to 
the members’ social and spiritual fitness in the commu- 
nity. A man can meet the demands of his community 
tradition and at the same time supply the needs of 
his nearest and most respected kin in the spirit world. 
Complete adjustment to two worlds brings a very deep 
feeling of satisfaction to every villager. 


ASSOCIATIONS 203 


Furthermore, whatever conspicuous elements for 
public consumption exist in burial practices, that could 
not be furnished without the aid of the association, 
bring social approval, attract the attention of the 
community, and thereby enable each member to enjoy 
the expansion of his social self-consciousness. The 
ordinary burial practice avoids public censure; the 
conspicuous funeral or abundant feast secures bursts 
of open praise. Then, from every point of view the 
community considers the task well done. 


THE SUGAR MANUFACTURING ASSOCIATION 


Another type of grouping is the Sugar Manufacturing 
Association. The people form this society to make 
sugar but even here one finds the religious and social 
features. When the organization is established they 
have religious worship in the interests of the success of 
the undertaking; from time to time they conduct | 
religious worship so that the good spirits may continue / 
to favor them; when they dissolve the organization 
after the completion of the sugar-making, they conduct 
worship in gratitude for successful enterprising. 

The social nature of this society is even more prom- 
inent than the religious. The members work together 
in a codperative way; the success of one is the success 
of all. This interdependence forms a nexus of effort 
and thought that makes for close group unity. When 
the day’s work is finished, they meet in their common 
room, built especially for the work of this association, 
eat, drink, chat and rest. 

The general relationship among the members is very 
democratic, for each member feels himself on an equal 
footing with every other in responsibility and in partici- 
pation in the benefits of the association. There is also 





204. COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


a desire to deal honestly with one another so that the 
enterprise may not be wrecked nor the investments of 
time and money lost. Finally, each is supposed to work 
zealously so that the financial gains from the under- 
taking may be as large as possible. Products are thus 
turned out cheaply and with the maximum elimination 
of waste and duplicate effort. The incapacity of the 
individual to conduct such manufacture alone because 
of the capital needed is compensated for by collectivity. 

The joint investment and conduct of the work brings 
the members together into a spontaneous voluntary 
association that offers, in addition to economic gains, 
opportunities for social and religious activities and 
gives expression to desires for fellowship, codperation 
and fair dealing. These are moral habits, and by their 
exercise in this manner they become generally strength- 
ened to the good of the community as a whole. 

The arrangement does not always work out quite as 
ideally as just described. Difficulties constantly arise; 
machines break down, men are hard to find, they slack 
on the job, the weather interferes with harvesting the 
cane, and so on. In actual practice the members do 
not equally worry and plan about these matters, which 
throws greater responsibility upon those who feel that 
they cannot afford to risk failure of the enterprise and 
so labor doubly hard. The work tends to be long and 
hard whether in the field or in the office. All of these 
experiences develop psychic tensions among the mem- 
bers, of which nervousness and sensitiveness are the 
apparent symptoms. Unless these tensions find release, 
quarrels among the members arise and the enterprise 
is in danger. 

Methods of obtaining release, or catharsis, from these 
work tensions have been developed gradually in the 


ASSOCIATIONS 205 


past until they have become incorporated into the very 
nature and function of the organization. Thus the 
religious activities, pursued more or less regularly during 
the existence of the association, provide some catharsis 
by entailing unseen powers, gods and spirits, who are 
supposed to help in return for being worshipped. This 
transfer of responsibility to higher powers affords at 
least partial release from tensions arising out of the 
attitudes of responsibility to one another. The worship 
in thanksgiving at the close of the life of the association 
is purely ceremonial and expressive behavior. As such, 
it has also a catharsis function: it marks the release 
from all further duties and worries in connection with 
the association. 

The religious activities offer catharsis for those ten- 
sions that arise out of the greater difficulties or crises 
of the organization as a whole and can thus be met 
satisfactorily by more occasional religious functioning. 
Worship occurs at those points in the history of the 
association which the group readily recognizes as 
pregnant with meaning for the success of the en- 
terprise. 

But in contrast to these characteristics and functions 
of the religious activities of the group, the social activi- 
ties are constant and persistent. The daily gathering 
for dinner at a sort of modified feast, with the drinking 
and conviviality that go with it, provides in its recrea- 
tional aspects release from the minor tensions of per- 
sons developed out of the lesser difficulties incident to 
the day’s work. Whereas worship offers group release 
from group tensions developed from the crises of the 
group, the distinctly social activities, while achieved 
through group contact, offer catharsis to individual 
persons for their individual tensions. 


206 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


Specific technics have thus been worked out to make 
the required adjustments for specific types of tensions: 
religious worship for the group tensions of general sig- 
nificance; social activities for the personal tensions. 
So do these associations help to maintain the mental 
health of the people in the rural village community.! 


THE IRRIGATION COOPERATIVE SOCIETY 


Another organization of similar type and function 
is the Irrigation CoGdperative Society. This association 
arises directly out of maintenance practices and needs 
due to unfavorable climatic conditions. Successful 
cultivation of rice becomes impossible when droughts 
set in, for the paddy fields, instead of being flooded, 
suffer desiccation. The ordinary practice is to dig small 
holes at the corner of the fields for the collection of 
water which is then pumped into the fields as they dry 
up. But when continued lack of precipitation has 
forced the farmers to use all of the water from these 
holes, they are compelled to secure water from Phenix 
River. 

Under such unusual and difficult exigencies, the 
farmer finds himself unable to cope with the crisis. He 
turns to others for help. Many others in similar situa- 
tions readily join together and form a codperative 
society for the irrigation of their rice fields and so save 
them from turning yellow before the crop is ripe. Each 
member pledges himself upon joining the association 
to codperate in every way possible with the others, by 
contributing labor for the enterprise according to the 
extent of land to be irrigated. Where lands are too 

1 Psychoanalytic explanation of the formation and function of these groups 
can be applied in a similar way to all the other associations found in Phenix 


Village. Further explanation need not be applied because the differences would 
be quantitative not qualitative, 


ASSOCIATIONS 207 


extensive to provide this labor through personal effort, 
the arrangement involves the employment of hands 
or the payment in kind or cash to other members of 
the society who may make up a deficiency in labor. 
Both men and women are found in these organizations. 
They divide themselves into shifts to work the irriga- 
tion pumps and so send a continuous stream of water 
into the fields. 

The dominant motive in this group is economic 
security. The religious and strictly recreational fea- 
tures are absent, and the sociability element is very 
weak. The latter is to be found only in the conversa- 
tion and united physical effort of each shift of laborers 
as they work on the pumps. There are no feasts or 
special gatherings of a convivial nature. All of these 
differences from the other organizations are correlated 
with loose organization. These groups come closest 
to the amorphous type previously mentioned. There 
are no money fees upon entrance; there is only a pledge 
to contribute labor; there seems to be no definite and 
clearly distinguishable leadership; all the members are 
on an equal basis of responsibility and obligation; what 
integration of authority exists arises entirely out of 
vague agreements as to the best methods of work, but 
even these are fixed by custom and call for no delibera- 
tion; formalities are to be found only in the traditional 
methods of work designed to meet the crisis, but even 
they are so slender that they hardly deserve the designa- 
tion. The function is very simple; a very elementary 
type of grouping is quite adequate to perform it. 


THE BOXING CLUB 


Still another type is the Boxing Club. Some villager 
who has a slight knowledge of Chinese boxing suggests 


208 COUNTRY (LIFE INGSOU PHCGEINY 


to a number of young men that a fund be raised to 
secure the services of an instructor and to rent a place 
for the ‘‘school of self-defense!’ An entrance fee is 
proposed and, when on that basis enough money is 
collected to launch the school, an itinerant boxing 
instructor is employed and a suitable place rented. 
Usually the classes are held in an old school building 
or temple where the open paved court serves as an 
open-air gymnasium. 

The instruction is given at night when the young 
men have most leisure. After a few lessons in a series 
of body movements designed to dispose of an opponent, 
the pupil is initiated into the mysteries of thrusting, 
parrying, slashing, and warding with a variety of weapons 
popular in ancient warfare in China. 

At first the movements are learned by mass imitation 
of the instructor; later they are perfected through 
practice with a sparring partner to develop experience, 
confidence and precision. When the sparring begins, 
and especially when the classes convene while the 
teacher is instructing in a neighboring village, some of 
the hardier members “‘get rough’’ and troubles arise. 
Each develops a drive for conquest rather than finesse 
and precision until the organization comes to a more 
or less sad ending. 

In spite of repeated failures to keep alive such asso- 
ciations, enthusiasts of the sport every once in a while 
try to revive the club. The need of personal protection 
is generally recognized so that interest is easily aroused. 
At the present moment, however, Phenix Village pos- 
sesses no such club, largely because of the disparate 
attitudes among the familist groups. 

While the ostensible aim in organizing such a club 
is protective education through a coéperative bearing 


ASSOCIATIONS 209 


of the expenses, other objectives and functions readily 
appear upon analysis of the activities. Skill in boxing 
is of value for several reasons: it has already been 
emphasized (Chapter V) that the self-made leaders 
become particularly effective when they have the 
backing of a numerous family, but when a large number 
of their followers are trained in the art of attack and 
defense, then, indeed, does the leader become formidable 
and influential in village polity; every man is his own 
policeman and must be able to protect himself and his 
property against thieves. The physical exercise is very 
‘strenuous and builds up the physiques of the young 
participants at the same time that it provides fun. 

The activities are thus both practical and recreational. 
The protective function meets practical crisis situations 
as they may arise for individual villagers while the 
recreative or expressive function offers release from some 
of the tensions of village monotony. 


THE MUSIC CLUB 


Finally, there is the Music Club. It too is an asso- 
ciation designed to meet a specific need, and dissolves 
when the need is met. It rests upon a broad basis 
of community appreciation of music, for the people 
commonly find recreation and wholesome enjoyment 
in it; wherever people gather to spend their leisure 
time music is provided either by professionals as wander- 
ing minstrels or by themselves. The taste for music 
is a product of the local theatricals which are presented 
on the stages set up before the temple doors. 

Once a year the village turns out for a religious 
procession, for the success of which there must be at- 
tractive music. To provide this music, the young people 
of the village are canvassed, a group is selected to form 


210 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


a band for the New Year’s procession. These people 
are formed into a school similar to that of the Boxing 
Club. Money is raised by subscription among the 
villagers who are rich or interested, in order to supply 
the instruments and employ a teacher in instrumental 
music and theatrical singing. This instructor may 
receive a very high salary, and for the two or three 
weeks he teaches he is treated as a highly honored guest 
of the village. 

He must teach the children how to handle the musical 
instruments, such as the gong, the drum, the cymbals, 
the trumpet, the flute and the violin and banjo, and to 
chant and sing the songs popularized by the stage. 

The pupils are young children of a musical bent, for 
they can most quickly learn how to handle the instru- 
ments and sing the theatrical songs. The high falsetto 
notes of these songs can best be reached by immature 
voices. For two or three weeks these children receive 
instruction day and night. Then the instructor moves 
on to another village but the band goes on practicing 
until the religious procession is held. When that great 
annual event is passed, the club disbands, the members 
return to their major interests, and the children, to 
school. 

In this way do the people of Phenix Village receive 
their education in popular ‘‘jazz.’’ Musical instruction 
was never undertaken in the old type schools so that 
the Music Club had to meet the need. To-day, how- 
ever, regular band instruction is offered in the schools 
of the village and much rivalry has developed between 
them to produce the best musicians. 

The training offered then and now constitutes a 
course in both production and appreciation. Great 
skill is required in any group production of music and 


ASSOCIATIONS 211 


the villager is not a stranger to standards of production. 
The interweaving of the plaintive melody with the 
intricate rhythms of the brass instruments and the 
drums and gongs seems a marvel even to foreigners of 
long residence in China. The harmony secured in such 
musical production is not one of tone but of rhythm. 
Many of the pupils do not keep in practice, but when 
those who never lay aside their instruments for long 
play the familiar tunes, an appreciative audience is 
there to listen and encourage. 

The community function of this association is that of 
recreation with a tinge of religious significance. Reli- 
gion furnishes the occasion but does not indicate the 
real nature of the motivation. There can be no doubt 
that the desire to make the religious procession a popular 
success in the region causes the adults to support the 
club financially; but the ‘‘face’’ of a fine procession 
enriched with popular music produced by village children, 
as well as the naive enjoyment of it, is the real attitude 
that results in the organization and support of this 
association by the villagers, old and young. 

From the point of view of the community, the training 
offered in this club constitutes the only formal type of 
socialized education in the community, for even in the 
modern schools the attempts to vitalize the school 
processes and contents are weak and halting. The 
benefits to the village are similar to those of the pageants 
held in America: dramatization, wide participation, 
historical education, the element of social service in- 
volved in the production for the appreciation of others. 


ATTITUDES OF GROUPS 


On the basis of the foregoing description and analysis 
of these several types of voluntary associations in Phenix 


ele COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


Village, it only remains to discover the degree of similar- 
ity between them in order to determine whether or not 
the regional situation, the complex of social values in 
the village, and the personal behavior in reaction to 
these variables have created groupings that possess 
particularities. 

Table XIV classifies and compares the relative types 
and strengths of attitudes that enter into village group- 
ings and other significant characteristics of voluntary 
associations. 

The weighting of the attitudes is done very crudely 
and somewhat arbitrarily by the use of “pluses” that 
represent distinct and recognizable motives. The 
tendency to advance the economic status appears as 
the predominant attitude among three of the six types 
of associations; in one other it shares first place and in 
a fifth, plays a secondary réle; in only one case is this 
attitude undiscoverable. 

Next in importance is the attempt to establish per- 
sonal status or familist superiority and prestige,—the 
disposition! to dominate, to be superior to, or to control 
others. This attitude is found in various strengths in 
all of the societies, although it is predominant in only 
one; it shares equal rank in one case with the attitude 
for security and in another with that of personal recogni- 
tion, but only in a minor way; and among all the groups 
of the village, it has about the same significance as that 
which produces friendship behavior. 

1This term as here used must not be taken as synonymous ers instinct 
as commonly employed in psychology. A disposition is far from possessing 
so natural or elemental a character. Perhaps ‘‘readiness”’ or ‘‘facility’’ would 
be better terms to use than disposition. It is a product of personal experience 
—a habit determined by original equipment and the social milieu—influenced 
by the customs, standards, ideals, organizations and institutions of a com- 


munity. Its assumed function is similar to that of the so-called ‘‘instinct”’ 
but its nature is very different. 


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214. COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


This last—the desire to make and keep friends, to 
be esteemed or loved for oneself alone, to be personally 
recognized and taken account of apart from one’s group, 
voluntary or familist—predominates in none of the 
groups but is found in all. Although incidental in three 
types, it plays a secondary rdéle in three others. Would 
this indicate that the family adequately provides for 
the satisfaction of the wish for personal recognition, so 
that voluntary associations for such purposes seem 
unnecessary ? 

A consideration of the several functions of the various 
groups would suggest an affirmative answer. All of 
these associations arise out of the failure of the familist 
group to cope with the needs, economic, protective, or 
recreational. Where the economic-family fails, voluntary 
alignments of resources and capacities of a codperative 
nature secure successful adjustment in special crises.! 
This is further shown in the relative brevity of existence 
of practically all of these intentional groups. 

1It would seem as though when relations founded on likebloodedness break 
down then the people resort to relations on a basis of what Professor Franklin 
H. Giddings calls ‘‘likemindedness.’’ As a crude concept describing the socio- 
psychological situation at the moment of formation of such intentional groups 
Giddings’ term serves quite well. But it does not indicate any clue as to why 
or how the likemindedness arises. 

That similarity of attitude arises, first, from an original ‘‘consciousness of 
kind’’—a recognition of similar need in the face of similar crisis: water for the 
fields, or money for some use, such as the disposal of the dead; second, it 
arises out of group experience which through extended familist continuity has 
become embedded and formalized into stereotyped devices for the solution of 
recurrent crises. 

The use of these stereotyped means of solving problems of life would be more 
habitistic than conscious. If this is true, then the ‘‘mindedness’’ or conscious- 
ness would probably exist quite momentarily and in a minor way. So far as 
these devices, the associations for mutual aid, are habitistically followed they 
would possess not ‘‘mindedness’’ but mindlessness, which is a quality of habit. 

People do not need mind when convention has fixed modes of dealing with 


familiar crises. Such modes are funeral customs and associations, and so on 
through the long list of village conventions. 


ASSOCIATIONS 215 


Four of these types of groups are designed to meet 
economic needs. In two, religious values are sought; 
in two, recreational opportunities. 

There seems to be a correlation between urgency and 
severity of the crises to be met in each case and the 
degree of organization, viz., the exclusiveness of member- 
ship, definite procedure for the induction and selection 
of members, definiteness of leadership and integration 
of authority. 

Of the groups that function economically, two types 
are in response to local and regional needs,—the Sugar 
Manufacture and the Irrigation Associations. This 
may be true at times of the Mutual Aid Society but it 
certainly is not true of the other three groups. They 
represent responses to purely traditional community 
practices. 

All these associations are really coéperative societies 
organized to pay the expenses either by cash, by labor, 
or by kind, of carrying on the activities of the members. 
The economic nexus runs like a red thread through a 
string of beads, binding practically all the groups into a 
fundamental unity of function and purpose. 


CHAPTER Viti 


EDUCATION AND THE SCHOOLS 


The general attitude of the village folk toward educa- 
tion as historically maintained has already been em- 
phasized in the analysis of village polity. Scholarship 
has always been a primary social value and therefore 
an ideal of the village and an object of concerted effort 
by the village community. 

Phenix Village folk have considered themselves the 
fortunate possessors of the favor of the spirits of wind 
and water—feng shui. Many famous scholars of rec- 
ognized rank came from Phenix Village. Even rival 
villages of the region have had to concede the scholastic 
prominence of Phenix Village and to admit that a 
favorable feng shui hovered over it. Only so could 
they explain the high production of successful scholars. 

That such an attitude was erroneous is of no signifi- 
cance when explaining scholarship sociologically, as a 
community value. The belief in feng shuz functioned 
quite definitely in village opinion; it encouraged the vil- 
lagers in the production of scholars and substituted a vil- 
lage policyof strenuous effort and support for Jazssez-faire. 
Had the spirits been conceived as hostile, effort would 
have been useless; it were foolish to struggle against 
Fate. The more scholars that had been produced as 
generations passed by supplied more certain proof of 
the favor of feng shuz and so reénforced the popular 
belief that the village was lucky. The general tone of 
educational effort was hopeful; every aspirant was 
considered as having a good chance to win success in 


EDUCATION AND THE SCHOOLS 217 


the competitive examinations and was therefore en- 
couraged by his fellow villagers. 

Consequently, when the student entered his exami- 
nation cell in the provincial capital, he carried with 
him a belief and confidence in his own powers as well 
as a sense of responsibility to his sib; he was, in fact, 
inspired by ‘‘the challenge of a great expectation.”’ 
With the support and confidence of his sib mates, the 
people of his district and the spirits of wind and water, 
failure was impossible. The whole social situation 
from which he emerged suggested only hope, confidence 
and success. 


THE HISTORY OF VILLAGE EDUCATION 


In view of these attitudes, it is not surprising that 
the village leaders have always promoted facilities for 
educational advancement. In time the village found 
itself thoroughly committed to the policy of providing 
opportunity for education to every boy of the village, 
rich or poor, who showed innate capacity for achieve- 
ment. Historically, there was no discrimination against 
any of the males who might apply for scholastic honors 
on an economic basis. Girls were excluded from these 
privileges because they could not be officials and their 
learning would be lost to their own sib and probably 
not desired by the sibs of their future husbands. Boys 
who were not apt were discouraged. Sex and inability 
were the only bases of discrimination. 

A poor boy from any family might fight his way to 
success and official position and thereby raise his family 
from the depths of penury. The whole theory of the 
competitive examinations was democratic. Capacity 
and achievement in the mastery of the classics according 
to the standards set up in the Sung dynasty were the 


218 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


only requirements for success and honor. The old 
village educational system was organized for the produc- 
tion of men who could satisfy these requirements and 
reflect honor and prestige on Phenix Village. 

To this end, the village built a special building, the 
Scholars Hall (marked A on Map No. 3). Here in the 
old days, up to 1911 at least, successful scholars would 
meet and teach the boys of the village. The place 
served also as a sort of rendezvous of learning; scholars 
of the village and other villages met here to gossip, 
discuss philosophy, and read their essays and poems. 
Here were deposited the archives of the sib and the 
paintings of famous ancestors, done in delicate shades 
of blue, yellow and red with exquisite precision of line. 
To-day the Hall is neglected and falling into ruin. But 
as one sits in the center of the balcony of the second 
floor and looks down into the court with its old gnarled 
cedars and stagnant pools, then raises his eyes over the 
roofs of the village homes to hills across the Han, he 
can imagine the keen pleasure the scholars used to enjoy 
while sitting there in meditative reflection on the sayings 
of their ancient sages. 

But the situation to-day is different. The power of 
the feng shui has gone. Ever since the abolition of the 
competitive examination system and the installation 
throughout the province of a new educational scheme, 
the belief in feng shui has wavered and weakened. 
Scholars of the old type are no longer produced, for men 
are no longer appointed to official position on a basis 
of a knowledge of ancient classics. This objective 
criterion of scholarship has been removed and the 
popular mind is without concrete methods of determining 
scholarship. People are confused on the matter, for 
they have not yet fully learned in what the new kind 


EDUCATION AND THE SCHOOLS 219 


of scholarship consists. As they see it, scholars are no 
longer coming forth, therefore feng shut has forsaken them. 

The result of this confusion is a weakening of the 
concerted demand by the sib for education and a dis- 
integration of definite policies and methods for the 
provision of education in accordance with the old 
standards. The leaders do not understand the new 
system in theory or practice. Theirown school experience 
provides them with no points of common appreciation 
with the modern movement. There is no definite 
objective in modern education corresponding to official 
appointment in the old. Consequently effort has 
slackened as far as the group as a whole is concerned. 
The general social pressure upon the children to get 
education is almost non-existent; the ancient com- 
pulsions of the group are gone. 

Consequently, only those children are attending school 
who are sent by their families. The attitude of many, 
especially the poorer families, has become indifferent 
toward education. A few parents, however, still recog- 
nize the need for training in writing business letters, 
business accounting and in writing and reading simple 
Wen In... No longer do they dream of their children 
becoming great scholars and officials. Only the parents 
in the better families consider education of sufficient 
importance to underwrite the expenses involved. This 
is creating a selection of pupils on the basis of wealth— 
an unhealthy tendency that was checked for a brief 
period by the mission school in the village but which 
goes on now with no hindrance whatever. 

Fortunately for Phenix Village, there have been a 
number of people who are progressive and intelligent 


1 Wen Liis the classical language used by scholars and writers. It is con- 
trasted with the popular or spoken language. 


220 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


enough to press for the establishment in the village 
of modern education. Ignorant of the details of method, 
these people have insisted that experts be brought in 
and schools set up to meet modern needs. The atti- 
tudes toward this movement have varied. The leaders 
tend to accept the challenge; most of the people tend 
to be apathetic or in opposition. As a result, education 
by 1916 had developed significant trends toward mod- 
ernization. It was conducted by three types of schools, 
viz., the old-fashioned school; the school that combined 
the old and the new; and the reorganized modern type 
with two forms, the ordinary school, and the mission 
school that added instruction in the Bible to its curricu- 
lum. Consistency in method or policy did not exist in 
this transition period of village education. 

Such was the educational situation in 1919 and it 
lasted until 1922, by which time the smaller and old- 
type schools had completely given way to two schools 
of the modern kind, which initiated what may be 
called the modern period of village education. The 
periods may be summarized as follows: (1) up to IgII,! 
the period of traditional education; (2) from 1911 until 
1922, the transition period, when there occurred side 
by side old and new methods in education; (3) from 
1922 until the present, which may be called the modern 
period, when strictly new schools, and they alone, pro- 
vide village education. 


THE TRANSITION PERIOD 


The remainder of this chapter will deal with a de- 
scription, analysis and evaluation, first, of the schools 
and their administration during the second period, and. 


1 The first school with a modified curriculum was opened in the village in | 
1905. 


EDUCATION AND THE SCHOOLS 221 


then a presentation of similar data for the modern 
period. The former is based upon the findings of 1919 
and the latter, of 1923. The changes in trends and 
tendencies can be made clear by a comparison of the 
two sets of data. 

In 1919 the investigations resulted in the following 
findings concerning school education. The buildings 
used as schools were of various kinds: a house rented 
and turned into a school, a structure built especially 
for the purpose from public funds, or an ancestral hall. 
The Christian mission school was located in an ancestral 
home; it was rented from one of the village Christians. 
Four buildings had been specially constructed for school 
purposes; one soon fell into disuse and another was 
turned over for different use. Of the three ancestral 
halls used from time to time as schools, only one was 
so utilized in 1919. One rented home for the Christian 
school, one ancestral hall and two specially built struc- 
tures constituted the facilities for the four schools that 
gave instruction to 170 boys. 

None of these buildings were suited to educational 
needs. They were all poorly or improperly lighted, 
but there was always plenty of good ventilation. Table 
XV (page 222) presents a comparison. 

Each school had one teacher. Of the four teachers 
one was a scholar of the old system, two were trained 
in modern schools and one had a mixture of old and 
new types of curriculum and method. 

The old type teacher was conservative, knew nothing 
of modern science or literature and was frequently 
opposed to all kinds of modern movements for change. 
He was popular among the villagers, willing to associate 
_and converse with them in a universe of discourse familiar 
to them, and ready to render any kind of assistance to 


222 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


TABLE XV 


COMPARISON OF SCHOOLS IN THE 
TRANSITION PERIOD 


Type of School Building Auspices Curriculum 
(1) (2) (3) (4) 
Private Special Family Old-New 


Public Special Village New 
Public Ancestral Hall | Family | Old 


Private Rented Home Christian Church New (Bible) 





them within his power. He was boarded around among 
the parents of his pupils and so received a very small 
salary. He held his school in the ancestral hall designated 
D on the map of the village. Such seemed a fitting place 
for his efforts, reénforced as they were by the traditions 
of his own class and by the weight of austerity of genera- 
tions of ancestral spirits looking down upon him and 
his pupils. He recruited his pupils from the conservative 
elements in the village. 

His method of teaching was that of the centuries. 
He had the pupils memorize the classics and made no 
effort to elucidate their meaning or interpret them in 
terms of life’s problems. His classics were not selections 
adapted and annotated by modern scholars but the 
pure, unmodified classics, the S Shu and Wu Dying, 
the Four Books and the Five Classics. His attitude 
was expressed in his statement: “Their minds will 
become enlightened by and by. Just now they only 
need to know the precious classics.’’ It reminds a 
Westerner of the attitude of many pious parents who 
helped their children memorize whole books of the Bible, 


EDUCATION AND THE SCHOOLS 24 


firmly believing the magical potency of such knowledge 
would function in adult life and when needed. The 
parents were of course satisfied with such methods 
because they too were taught in the same way and in 
the same hope that sometime they would know what it 
all meant. Besides, it had produced in times past 
famous scholars, and so it was good enough for them. 

The pupils were expected to be able by the end of a 
school period to repeat the entire book under study. 
From day to day they were called upon to recite the 
lessons assigned and in case of failure were subjected to 
corporal punishment as an incentive to the next day’s 
work. Such treatment was also meted out to the mis- 
chievous pupil; it was in fact the only method of disci- 
pline employed by the teacher. It was negative and 
repressive and exploited the child’s fears. The method 
was never a practical success unless the teacher was 
excessively severe and harsh, otherwise the schoolroom 
was in a constant turmoil. 

The most favorable feature of the old-fashioned 
method of teaching was the personal attention the 
teacher put upon each pupil. There was mass super- 
vision but not mass instruction. A boy might advance 
as rapidly as possible; he was not held back by his 
fellow students. Such individuation in instruction 
is in certain ways thoroughly in harmony with the 
latest and best educational practices. The new schools 
would do well to retain this feature of the old school 
methods.! 

The new kind of teacher is one who has been taught 
some of the classics but with explanation and interpreta- 
tion. He has also learned the elements of modern science, 
physics, astronomy, geography, botany and history, 


1 Compare the Dalton and Winnetka plans in the United States. 


224 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


but from textbooks. He bridges the old to the new and 
is quite proud of his knowledge of modern subjects. 
After all, however, the difference between him and the 
old type is not great. He may use adapted classics and ~ 
add to them modern subjects, yet he uses the same old 
methods of memorization and his discipline is similar 
to that imposed upon him when he was a pupil. There 
is a deliberate attempt at something different; but it is 
more ‘‘face’’ than real teaching. He is doing the best 
he knows, and until normal schools and institutes can 
provide him opportunities for learning improved meth- 
ods, he must go on as best he can. 


THE OLD CURRICULUM 


The curriculum of the old type schools consisted in 
reading and memorizing the classics, calligraphy, or the 
practice of writing characters with a brush pen, and some 
training with the abacus. After depending upon the 
discretion of the teacher for two or three years, the 
pupil was called upon to memorize and write a collec- 
tion of forms of common letters. Still later he took 
up composition,—of symmetrical sentences, simple verse, 
and finally, the eight-legged essay. There was no 
instruction in play nor in music. While there was some 
training in artistic composition in writing the characters 
according to models, there was no further instruction 
in line-combination, representation, or color-fusing. The 
whole curriculum was very narrow in scope and in method 
of application. It was cast upon a hard-work level, 
the theory being that the difficulties developed persist- 
ence and character and so should not be made easy. 

The whole curriculum was built to train into a single 
vocation: the successful pupil was headed for official 
position in the government. In the use of the abacus 


EDUCATION AND THE SCHOOLS 225 


and in learning letter-forms and reading, the curriculum 
did provide skills that had practical value in other voca- 
tions. There was no deliberate training for leisure activ- 
ities, but scholars and pupils used to pass hours of leisure 
time writing characters and reading. While education 
was vocational it was narrowly aimed at one vocation. 

During the last ten years important changes in the 
whole cultural situation in China have been brought 
about by the introduction of what is called the National 
Language. Leaders trained in ancient classics and modern 
science and literature have undertaken to raise the 
popular language into written form for journalistic and 
book purposes. The government through the depart- 
ment of education has endorsed this movement to 
simplify the language and displace the Wen Lz, hoping 
thereby to facilitate the spread of learning and develop 
a literate citizenry. In view of this change the practical 
values noted above tend to disappear, for in this old 
type school, instruction did not continue long enough 
for the pupil really to master the intricacies of language 
forms. The pupils were not trained in the new National 
Language; what they were learning was being used less 
and less all the time. This is one of the main reasons 
for the final bankruptcy of the system and the complete 
substitution of modern curricula in the new schools 
established in 1922. 

The administration of this curriculum followed a very 
crude schedule, in that writing, reading and recitation 
were carried on in regular order both morning and after- 
noon. Once in a while the teacher took a rest for a week 
or two and the pupils enjoyed a brief respite from their 
grind. The school usually opened in the middle of the 
Chinese second month—about the first of April—and 
closed in the eleventh month—about the middle of 


226 | COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


January. During this year there were two vacation 
periods of a month each, during the harvest seasons 
of summer and late fall. The length of the school 
year was approximately eight months. Study was 
continuous except for the holidays and vacations al- 
ready noted. It amounted to about 240 to 250 days 
each year. Even that time was entirely inadequate 
to master the difficult technic required by the classical 
régime in education. 


EDUCATIONAL REORGANIZATION 


That these insurmountable difficulties drove the leaders 
to reorganize their educational methods and objectives 
is open to little doubt. Before the close of the Manchu 
dynasty in I9II, edicts from Peking had called for 
readjustments following the elimination of the competi- 
tive examination system, but actual achievement in 
effective reorganization had since then been very slow. 
That village leaders were not ignorant of these demanded 
changes is shown by the fact that the school under their 
control was during this period of transition a reorganized 
school. (See Table XV, p. 222.) 

The reorganized curriculum in this new type of school 
in Phenix Village offered the following subjects: National 
readers, which contained selections from the classics 
in modified language—what was called easy Wen Li— 
chiefly historical and ethical materials; penmanship 
based on modern methods of instruction by the aid of 
a square with cross and diagonal lines to guide the 
student in making the strokes; letter-writing—business 
and ordinary letters, and the composition of simple 
essays. For the more advanced pupils, there were 
offered selections from the classics, annotated and ex- 
plained, history, geography and arithmetic. The last 


EDUCATION AND THE SCHOOLS 227 


was taught according to the notation system of the 
West and included training in the abacus as well. The 
parents did not like to give up the abacus because of 
its prevalent usage. Physical education had not yet 
been introduced for social opinion still condemned it 
as a waste of time. 

The administration of this curriculum followed a defi- 
nite time schedule for each day of the week with periods 
of study and of recitation alternating. Mass instruc- 
tion was introduced, and the whole program was for- 
malized and made more regular. Students were graded 
and the teacher promoted pupils ex masse by classes. 

The annual amount of time was about the same as 
in the old type of school. On Sundays, however, the 
program was lightened somewhat; it covered a review 
of the week and included practice in penmanship. In 
fact, there were evidences that the new teacher would 
have made Sunday a holiday but he lacked the courage, 
for social opinion was still too much opposed to the idea. 
Probably the new teacher was influenced by the mission 
school which closed regularly on Sundays so that the 
pupils could attend the Sunday School and the religious 
services of the Christian church in the village. 

The Christian school substituted instruction in the 
Bible for the classical selections in ethics. To the 
curriculum described above, this school added simple 
ethics, singing and handwork, which included elementary 
drawing, paper-cutting and weaving, clay modeling and 
simple basketry. It offered the richest curriculum and 
had therefore the largest attendance. 

The pupils of the schools in Phenix Village were not 
limited to children of the village, for neighboring groups 
sent in their children. Few girls were allowed to study 
with the boys. (At one time the Christians made an 


228 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


attempt to open a special school for girls that would 
provide a two-year program of instruction, but the effort 
failed.) The ages of the pupils ranged from five to 
twenty years. The older ones were found in the old 
type schools. The new schools, village and mission, 
were organized into lower and higher primary grades, 
three and four years, respectively. 


PUPILS 


The distribution of the school population in the 
various schools and its relation to the total children of 
school age in the village are shown in Tables XVI and 
XVII. Only 44 per cent of the children of Phenix 
Village were in school, approximately half of those of 
school age. (Table XVII, Column 3.) The larger 
attendance in the schools with new elements in curriculum 
and method showed a definite shift in village values 
from old standards to new. 


TABLE XVI TABLE XVII 
DISTRIBUTION OF PUPILS RELATION OF SCHOOL 
BY SCHOOLS POPULATION TO TOTAL 
1919 CHILDREN OF SCHOOL AGE 


IN PHENIX VILLAGE, Ig19 







Number|Per Cent 


















(1) (2) (3) 
Private (Old-New) 


In School 94 44 











Public (New) 26 
Public (Old) Il Not in School 134 56 
Private 

36 


New (Christian) 





Total 


EDUCATION AND THE SCHOOLS 229 


FEES AND SALARIES 


Where the general supervisory control and the criticism 
of educational authorities are as weak, because of 
ignorance and lack of appreciation of objectives and 
proper methods in modern education, as they are in 
Phenix Village, it is instructive to analyze the tuition 
fees of the pupils in relation to teachers’ salaries and their 
probable effectiveness in providing adequate instruction 
for the village children. 

Pupils formerly paid their fees in two ways, in cash and 
in kind. Those pupils for whom ancestors had provided 
educational insurance in the form of special funds for 
the purpose, did not have to provide their own fees, for 
the manager of the ancestral fund invited the teacher 
and paid his salary from those funds. Others not so 
fortunate were compelled to pay tuition fees ranging 
from three to twenty dollars a year, depending upon the 
financial status of the boy’s family. 

Besides the money payment, each pupil had to supply 
the teacher with rice, fuel, vegetables and meat. Each 
student was responsible for his keep for five days. That 
duty rotated among all of them. Such payment in 
kind was a general practice and came down from high 
antiquity. It had not disappeared even though the 
modern practice of paying a salary had been introduced 
in part. Furthermore, at three of the eight great fes- 
tivals of the year, each pupil was expected to make a 
gift of food and money to his teacher. 

The salaries ranged from forty to two hundred dollars 
a year and the average tuition for each of the four schools 
ranged from three to eight dollars a year. Table XVIII 
sets forth in detail the comparative data on salaries 
and fees for each school. 


230 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


TABLE XVIII 


ANNUAL TEACHERS’ INCOMES AND 
TUITION FEES! 


Schools Number of Annual Annual Average 
Teachers Income Tuition 
(1) (2) (3) (4) 

Private 

New I $200 $8.00 
Public 

New I $160 $6.00 
Public 

Old I $ 40 $3.50 
Private 


New(Christian) 





1 All figures are given for Mexican dollars or Chinese currency. To change 
into United States currency, divide by two. 


THE MODERN PERIOD 


At present there are two schools marked on the Map 
of the Village as School A and School B, located in the 
two large ancestral halls, indicated as E and F. The 
old schools were closed in the summer of 1922 and in 
the fall of that year these two were opened. The schools 
are held in buildings designed for ancestral worship, 
informal education in familist convention and religion. 
As shown in Illustration XIV (facing p. 261) the building 
is not at all adapted to the needs of formal school educa- 
tion. The desks are placed on the open space on the left 
hand side of the ancestral cabinet. (See Fig. 10, p. 303.) 
The latter is always placed in the center of the large 
room that opens into a court and faces east. This 
means that all the light comes from the rear over the 
backs of the pupils. In the morning the teacher must 


EDUCATION AND THE SCHOOLS 231 


let down a large curtain to keep out the sunlight and 
then all the light the pupils have seeps through the 
curtain and is reflected over their right shoulders from 
the right side of the open hall. On dark or rainy days 
the light is even more inadequate, but not more so than 
in the homes of the village. 


SCHOOL EQUIPMENT 


The children never suffer for proper ventilation. The 
arrangement really provides an open-air school. Inas- 
much as the temperature never falls low, it is warm 
enough in winter and cool in summer, except when the 
hot morning sun beats down on the court and heats the 
stone paving. 

The equipment is not properly adapted. It is quite 
clear, however, that the authorities tried to have the 
latest and best. Both the seats and the desks differ 
from the old type, which were single chairs and ordinary 
high flat tables, suited to Chinese writing. In the 
modern schools the chairs are double benches of plain 
construction on which two pupils are seated. As is 
clear from the illustration, they are not adapted to the 
pupils, for they are all too high. The pupils’ feet do not 
touch the floor. The double seat is not good, for one 
boy may be taller than his seat-mate; one’s feet might 
touch the floor while the other’s might not. The benches 
are made in different heights; each session the teacher 
juggles them to fit the pupils as best he can. 

The desks are made with a slanting front and hinged 
so that pupils may put their things inside. They too 
are made in varying heights for pupils of different sizes. 
A high desk is needed for writing Chinese characters but 
there are two disadvantages. If it is not the proper 
size, the pupil writes in an awkward and uncomfortable 


232 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


position, with a curvature in his spine; when he sits 
straight while reading, the book is too near his eyes. 

In spite of these defects, the improvements over the 
old system are real advances and show a desire on the 
part of the leaders to do the right thing. The light in 
these halls is very much better than in the old schools. 
The leaders have developed to the limit of village re- 
sources the facilities for right educational conditions. 
The next step would be the construction of a small 
model schoolhouse that could combine both schools 
into one, including classrooms, workrooms, closets, 
store rooms, and soon. The two schools are now sepa- 
rate because the chia-chang controlling the two ancestral 
temples are not friendly. There is wealth enough in 
the village to build a proper school with adaptable 
equipment. The leaders only need to be convinced, 
for they have done the best they could according to 
their knowledge and that of the teachers. ‘There is 
nothing better in any rural village school in the whole 
region. 

Each school is maintained by the leaders of that part 
of the sib that worships in each ancestral temple. They 
are both public. The students come from those natural- 
and economic-families that feel most friendly because 
most closely related to the authorites in charge of each 
ancestral hall. School B was started by the council 
of leaders by making a small contribution from public 
funds, whereupon some other leading men undertook 
to maintain School Ain competition. The only advantage 
of this situation is that each teacher is subjected to 
keen competition in the development of the better school. 
However, with intelligent supervision and wise control 
better results could be secured through consolidation 
and pooling of resources. Besides, the village community 


EDUCATION AND THE SCHOOLS 233 


can ill afford to risk the divisive trends involved in this 
situation. 

Incidentally, this condition illustrates well how social 
divisions evolve. First, there were familist divisions, 
then a splitting in religious groupings, now one in educa- 
tional functions and organization. The next division 
would probably occur in polity. If that should occur 
the community would no longer be of the traditional 
familist type, but would take on a civistic character. 


THE TEACHERS 


Both are one-teacher schools. In School A the teacher 
is twenty-eight years old and comes from outside the 
village. He graduated from the higher primary school— 
the equivalent of a grammar school—and taught for 
nine years before coming to Phenix Village. He has 
had no normal training nor further instruction through 
teachers’ institutes or summer courses.’ He runs his 
school in the manner familiar to him from his experience 
in the Kwantung Provincial Grammar School, which in 
turn took its copies from the Provincial Normal School. 
He belongs to no teachers’ association. He has a profes- 
sional attitude toward his work and takes great pride 
in the achievements of his pupils. Although he is not 
a member of the sib, he takes a keen interest in the 
welfare of the village. 

In School B the teacher is twenty-three years old 
and comes from outside the sib. He graduated from the 
Chaochow District Higher Primary School and had 
four years’ experience before entering his present posi- 
tion. He too has had no specialized vocational training 
and belongs to no professional organization. He in- 
structs by imitating the methods of the school from which 


234 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


he came. His relation to the other teacher is one of 
respectful distance. 

This is unfortunate, for closer harmonious relations 
with mutual help and criticism would greatly aid in 
the common improvement of both the schools. Both 
teachers have already so acquired the rivalry attitudes 
of the leaders who employ them that it is doubtful if 
it would be possible to get them to codperate. If con- 
solidation were ever achieved new teachers would prob- 
ably have to be secured. 

The methods and objectives of these teachers vary 
from the old type quantitatively rather than qualita- 
tively. That is, they do not require the students to 
consume so much, nor materials quite so difficult, but 
the emphasis still is on the mastery of the contents of 
the textbooks. They do try to link these materials 
more with everyday experience, especially in those 
selections from the classics that are classed as ethics; 
but the ethics of convention still displace natural ethics. 
Spitting on the floor may be disregarded but bowing 
to the teacher must be done properly. 

The students study their lessons under the super- 
vision of the teacher. He divides them into two groups, 
one for study and one for recitation. He keeps records 
of attendance and of the quality of the students’ work 
and makes reports to the students’ parents. He groups 
them in classes and advances them in grades. 

In studying literature, he reads over the sentences, 
asks the class to repeat what he has read and thus teaches 
them the exact tonal value of each character. As he 
goes along he explains the meaning of what they read. 
Afterward the students are expected to be able to read 
properly and tell the meaning of the materials. Impor- 
tant selections are committed to memory. 


EDUCATION AND THE SCHOOLS 235 


DISCIPLINE 


In discipline the modern teachers have made great 
advance. The prevalence of corporal punishment has 
disappeared. The teacher works with the pupils on 
a friendly basis; the old master notion is gone. Probably 
the most effective change is the habit of spending time 
with the students after the classes. Both teachers 
help their students to grow flowers, to learn the use of 
musical instruments, the modern drum and bugle, and 
give them drill in marching and simple military exercises. 
These things used to be beneath the dignity of a scholar. 
The modern teacher does not stand on such dignity 
and wins his pupils to codperation in undertakings 
interesting to them. The pupils take care of the school 
premises, sweep, arrange the furniture, and generally 
take pride in keeping the place in order. Squads of 
students rotate in discharging these duties. When the 
school opens the pupils form in line and march to their 
seats in orderly fashion, and when school is over they 
march out. Discipline to-day is freer and easier and 
more effective because the responsibility is being shifted 
to the pupils themselves. The emphasis is still on order 
rather than growth. So long as village values are or- 
ganized on a familist basis, the school will be called upon 
to develop those habits that conform to such values 
as obedience, order, quiet, loyalty and the like. They 
are good in themselves until carried to extremes when 
they become unduly repressive, which they still are in 
Phenix Village. The criticism must not then be launched 
so much against the school as the community, except 
as the school might effect some change in village values 
or achieve these same ends through the organization 
of the disciplinary effort on a group self-government 


236 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


basis wherein expression for approved ends would 
underlie the same habits. 


THE PRESENT CURRICULA 


Both schools are Tsu Deng or lower primary grades 
with four years of instruction, consecutive and continu- 
ous. There is no school offering instruction in the 
grades of the higher primary. Students when completing 
these grades go to work with their parents, into 
commerce, or to a higher primary school in Chaochow 
or Swatow. There is no good higher primary school 
nearer than Chaochow. Middle schools or high schools 
are also to be found in those two cities. The nearest 
college is in Canton or Amoy. The better institution 
is in Canton, for the Canton Christian College offers 
a wide range of courses, including agricultural science 
and professional training in education. 

The curriculum for School A includes the following 
subjects: 


Subject Basis of. Instruction 

Writing No text—imitation of teacher 
Ethics Text published by The Commercial Press 
Literature ‘1 , rat i a 
Mandarin (National 

Language) ¥ is rahe : 
Dictation From above texts 
Arithmetic Text 
Reading Same as dictation 
Drawing Text with practice 
Letter Writing Text 
Singing No book—imitation of teacher 
Handwork No text. Paper cutting, folding, carving 


bamboo in imitation of teacher 


The students also take care of a school garden and 
practice the use of the modern drum and the bugle. In 


EDUCATION AND THE SCHOOLS 237 


drawing they use both pencil and brush in line and 
color, following ordinary objects or teacher’s models for 
representation. There is no geography, nor history, nor 
civics, except as ethics may include some notions that 
could be noted as civics. Ethics covers human relations, 
how to behave in different situations, how to be polite to 
the teacher and filial toward parents and elders, in short, 
how to conform to familist convention. It does not 
lead the pupil into an appreciation of duties and re- 
sponsibilities beyond the sib, or village community. 

To administer this curriculum, the teacher. begins 
school for the upper two classes at 8:30 and dismisses 
them at 11:30 A. M. The afternoon period for them 
runs from 2:30 to 4:30. The hours for Grades 1 and 2 
are 9 to 12 A. M. and 3 to 5:30 P. M. School is open 
six days a week, making a total of 30 hours for the upper 
two grades and 33 for the lower two classes. Within 
this period the first class has three vacant hours; the 
second class has six; the third class, four; and the fourth 
class, five. Each class period lasts sixty minutes, but 
a class is divided into two parts, one writing or studying 
and one reciting. 

Table XIX (page 238) assembles the subjects and 
indicates the hours each subject is taught to each grade 
per week. 

The physical drill is really an elementary sort of 
military drill. The pupils are taught to stand in line, 
go through formations, goose-step, and march to a drum. 
This constitutes their physical education. It is formal 
and stiff and offers little of the play element. It should 
be organized into group games and play projects so that 
it would serve as an antidote to the formalism of the 
curriculum in other respects. The dramatization of 
the military, the marching, the drum, the flags all attract 


238 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


TABLE XIX 
CURRICULUM HOURS OF SCHOOL A 





Hours Per Week 


Subject 
Fourth Third Second First 
Writing 3 5 5 8 
Ethics 5 5 6 4 
Literature 4 5 6 6 
Mandarin 2 2 I (o) 
Arithmetic 5 3 4 3 
Dictation 4 5 ~ 7 
Reading e) 2 oO | O 
Drawing I I I I 
Singing I I I I 
Handwork I I I I 
Letter Writing 2 O O oO 
Physical Drill 2 2 2 2 


the villagers; the pupils get some fun from this part 
of it. This sort of thing also offers the teacher a chance 
to display his work publicly and allows him to make 
his appeal to the people directly, in competition with 
his rival in School B. 

It is quite clear that the improvements in this curric- 
ulum over the old type are numerous and worth while, 
but there is much still to be done by trained and wise 
leadership. The teacher is left with entire control of 
the curriculum and the schedule. He can put in anything 


EDUCATION AND THE SCHOOLS 239 


he wishes; the leaders turn that responsibility entirely 
over to him. Were he to belong to institutes that 
suggested curriculum improvements from time to time, 
he would be in a position to experiment with them 
without delay. Rural village education is fertile soil; 
all that is needed is the seed. 


TABLE XX (a) 


CURRICULUM SCHEDULE OF SCHOOL B 
(TRANSLATION OF TEACHER’S PLAN) 


Grades Three and Four 















Monday | Tuesday }Wednesday| Thursday Friday Saturday 


Literature |Ethics Literature |Pronunciation|Ethics Literature 
Writing |Writing Writing Writing {Essay 
Composition 


Arithmetic/Arithmetic]Arithmetic |Arithmetic Arithmetic] Review 


Literature|Literature |Literature Letter Review 
Writing 





Drawing |Physical |Music Hand Work |Physical |Test 
Drill 


Grades One and Two 


Writing |Writing | Writing Writing Writing [Writing 
Essay 
Composition 


Literature |Ethics Literature |Pronunciation|Ethics 


Letter Literature|Literature |Literature Letter Review 

Writing Writing 

Drawing |Arithmetic/Arithmetic |Hand Work 

Arithmetic|Physical |Music Arithmetic |Physical |Test 
Drill Drill 


Arithmetic] Review 


240 COUNTRY |EIFE IN SOUTHCHiING 


School B differs from the foregoing in some details 
but follows the same general lines of content and or- 
ganization. The time schedule and the subjects taught 
by the double-class method are arranged in tabular 
form and presented below. 


TABLE XX (b) 


CURRICULUM HOURS OF SCHOOL B 


Subject 


Writing 
Ethics 
Literature 
Pronunciation 


Arithmetic 


Essay Composition 


Drawing 
Music 
Hand Work 


Letter Writing 


Review 


Test 


Physical Drill 


Hours per Week 


Fourth Third Second First 
os 1s) i 
6 OO 6 1 

=) 5 2 5 

I I I I 
a LS 
OO i 
oh) a 
a 
ate 
tv. be th 


A comparison of Table XIX with Table XX (b) 
discloses some significant facts. Within a stone’s throw 


EDUCATION AND THE SCHOOLS 241 


are two schools in a village of 650 people, each running 
independently of the other and each offering its own 
program distinctive of the other. The wonder is that 
they are so nearly alike. The curriculum of School A 
has a more varied offering, showing an attempt to 
adapt the program to varying needs of the same pupil 
at different times in his growth; School B varies slightly 
in its offerings between the first-second and _ third- 
fourth grades, but is more uniform throughout. Less 
emphasis is placed on ethics than in the former school. 
The National Language gets less emphasis also than in 
School A. But School B attempts to be more practical 
in offering more hours of letter writing. It is very 
doubtful, however, whether the offering in School A 
is not much wiser. Children in the first and second 
grades can hardly afford to struggle with letter forms 
when they are just beginning to master character 
combinations. Drawing, music, handwork and physical 
drill are about the same in both schools. School B 
emphasizes reviews and tests. 

But why are any of these subjects in the curriculum? 
There are three answers: (1) There are standardized 
textbooks available for them at low cost; (2) they are 
advised by the educational authorities of the province; 
(3) they are the subjects the teachers were taught. That 
is about the limit of the science of education that finds 
application in Phenix Village. Not because the teachers 
would not do better; but because they do not know better. 

All of the work is hard. That is, the student may not 
do with a subject as he likes by following his interest. 
He is supposed to maintain a satisfactory degree of 
achievement in production. He draws not for the fun 
of it but to make a good copy of the teacher’s model; 
he sings for the same reason. Handwork has little 


242 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHIR’ 


motivation in children’s interests. Paper-cutting is 
tedious and hard on the eyes and has no use except to 
exhibit to visitors and parents. The pupils do not 
rebel, however, for they are trained in obedience and 
respect for the teacher. Whatever he suggests must 
be right, especially since he is a modern teacher. 

In other words, with a shift of objective and some 
improvement in the details of methods of teaching, the 
present curriculum, especially in School A, could be made 
quite good. If the subjects in the first and second years 
could be put mainly on a play level and the tedious work 
of penmanship and taking dictation could be decreased, 
if the drawing, singing and handwork could be given 
an “‘appreciation”’ rather than a ‘‘production”’ objec- 
tive, and if to the drill some games could be added just 
for ‘‘fun,’’ much practical improvement could be worked 
out of this group of subjects. Further changes would 
come in breaking up the ethics into simple social science, 
such as the group relations in the school and playground, 
family relations, the farmer and fruit-grower and the 
merchant in the market, the boatmen and their function 
in the village, and so on. Also, literature could be 
broken up into history, local and provincial, and into 
lessons on the modern newspaper and magazine. 


EVALUATION OF SCHOOL EDUCATION 


But clearly the present curriculum is hardly a program 
for a school in a rural village. Only occasionally does 
a pupil go on to the higher primary grades, or middle 
school and college and yet this curriculum is built on 
that objective. As already mentioned, most of the 
pupils go to work on the farm or in the orchards or go 
into some form of trade. In spite of the fact that these 
subjects aim primarily at production they are ill selected 


EDUCATION AND THE SCHOOLS 243 


and not adapted to the vocations the pupils are likely 
to enter. They are not based on the predominant voca- 
tions of the community and from this test are as con- 
ventional in their way as the subjects and lessons of 
the old type school. 

One might find this same program of studies in village, 
town or city lower primary school. But the descrip- 
tion and analysis of Phenix Village has shown thus far 
many characteristics that suggest rich possibilities if 
the teachers would link their curricula with the local 
needs. There are many possible projects about which 
they might organize their instruction: nature study, 
orchards and the production and. marketing of fruit; 
hygiene and village clean-up days; rice and its care and 
preparation; art and home beautification; poultry-raising, 
marketing and accounting; arithmetic and family budg- 
ets; village history and the improvement and care of 
public buildings and the archives in the Scholars Hall; 
drill and religious pageantry that would fit into the New 
Year’s procession; play and competitive games and the 
evils of gambling; geography, local and _ provincial, 
the village ferry to Chaochow and communication with 
Swatow and the outside world; newspapers and reading, 
with reading to the villagers who are illiterate. Such 
additions would be practicable, appreciated by the 
parents, and at the same time education that would not 
necessarily keep the pupil on the farm in Phenix Village. 

One may sympathize with the country lad who longs 
for worlds to conquer, but village education can hardly 
be built upon his prospects. It should be based first 
on appreciation of village activities and life, immediate 
participation so far as possible by children of such ages, 
production achieved through rural projects, and the 
acquisition of simple skills in the three ‘‘R’s,’’ adding 


244 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


as soon as possible one more ‘‘R’’—recreation. The 
materials on which the pupils work should be those 
characteristic of Phenix Village, not those suitable for 
lads in a large city who are aiming for university training. 
If this analysis and evaluation is correct, greater and 
more drastic changes than have been effective since the 
shift from the old type school are yet needed. Instead 
of a school garden with a few potted flowers, pretty 
as they are, each school, or better, both schools together 
should have a real garden and a real orchard and a real 
rice field in which the pupils could grow real products 
to be sold in a real market. Such education and the 
skills would be ‘‘hard-work”’ level subjects, while all 
others would be “‘play’’ level studies.! 

To administer the curriculum presented in Table 
XX, the teacher of School B begins at 9 A. M. and runs 
to I2 noon and from 1:30 to 5:30 P.M., a total of seven 
hours a day. School operates from Monday morning 
until Saturday evening with Sunday as a holiday, which 
gives a total of 42 hours a week. The extra hours pro- 
vided here over those in School A are used for reviews 
and tests, whose value is as doubtful as the subjects 
taught. 

School B has more equipment with which to teach 
than School A. The latter has rules written on white 
boards and hung on the walls, and it has one blackboard. 
The former has a large abacus for the one hour of instruc- 
tion per week in the use of the abacus, rules on the 
walls, a picture of Confucius, written characters decorat- 
ing the walls, three maps, of Kwantung, of China, and 
of the world, two blackboards, and three drums and 

1Compare Bobbitt, F.: The Curriculum; Meriam, J. L.: Child Life and 


the Curriculum; O’Shea, M. V.: Dynamic Factors in Education; Snedden, 
D.: Educational Sociology. 





EDUCATION AND THE SCHOOLS 245 


bugles for the pupils’ military band. The blackboards 
are painted black and varnished, take the chalk very 
poorly and reflect the light badly from certain angles. 


SCHOOL CENSUS OF 1923 


School A had at the time of the investigation in 1923, 
36 boys and 1 girl; School B, 53 boys and 2 girls; a total 
of 92 pupils in the whole village in attendance at school. 
School A had three pupils not of the village sib; School 
B, one pupil from outside. 


TABLE XXI 


SCHOOL POPULATION BY AGES, SEX AND SCHOOLS, 
1923 


School A School B 


I 

2 

4 

a 
10 4 
II 4 
12 6 
13 a 
14 4 
15 2 
16 I 
17 I 
18 O 
19 I 
20 I 


Total 36 I 53 2 


Table XXI shows the distribution of the school popu- 
lation by ages, sex and schools. 


246 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


School B has a more homogeneous group of students as 
regards age, which partly validates the uniformity of its 
curriculum; their ages range from 8 to 17 years with no 
bunching. The ages of students in School A run from 
6 to 20 years with a bunching between 8 and 14 years. 


FINANCES 


The fees of School A total in a year about one hundred 
and forty dollars; each student is required to pay approxi- 
mately three dollars, depending upon the financial status 
of his family. The money is all paid to the scholar who 
is in administrative charge of the school, and who then 
pays the teacher’s salary and other expenses of the 
school. The teacher receives one hundred and forty 
dollars a year and his lodging; he must board himself. 

The fees of School B amount to something over two 
hundred dollars a year, individual fees ranging from 
three dollars to six dollars according to the resources 
of the boy’s family and the grade in which he is to study; 
the higher grades have the higher fees. As in the other 
case, the teacher does not handle any of the money. 
It is collected by that man who in rotation has charge 
of the ancestral temple for the year. He expends the 
money as necessary. The teacher’s salary is one hundred 
and seventy dollars and lodging; he must board himself. 

Both teachers reside in a corner room of the ancestral 
hall where they teach. Their families are not with them. 


ADULT EDUCATION 


School A runs a school for ‘‘adults,’’ in which there are 
five students. It was opened at the request of the village 
leaders. Mandarin conversation, letter-writing, abacus, 
and classics are studied. The ages of the students range 
from 15 to 20 years and the fees, from three to five dollars. 


EDUCATION AND THE SCHOOLS 247 


They study from 7 to 11 in the morning, and from 2:30 
to 4:30 in the afternoon, at tables on the opposite side 
of the large room shown in Illustration XIV. Ona 
table in this same part of the hall is placed a Swatow 
daily newspaper for the use of the students and teacher. 

School B has developed no special school for adults, 
but offers a public reading-room for anyone who may 
wish to drop in. The main road of the village passes 
the door of this hall so that the facilities are quite con- 
venient. Tables are placed inside the door and on them 
are a Swatow newspaper brought daily by the village 
boatmen, and magazines from Canton and Shanghai. 
Among these is the New Young Men or Sin Tsing 
Nien which is famous all over China, for its radical 
and progressive ideas shock the scholars and delight the 
younger generation. The costs of subscriptions are 
paid by the manager of the school. From five to six 
persons visit the reading-room daily; the students and 
the teacher also read the news regularly. This reading- 
room is a valuable type of modern school extension and 
is increasing the amount of contact between Phenix 
Village and the outside world. Through these means 
the patrons of the reading-room, and others indirectly, 
are informed in news, local, national and international. 
Lloyd George, Clemenceau, Wilson were as well known 
to them as 7’sao Kun or Wu Pet Fu. 

Since the close of the Christian mission school there 
has been no formal religious instruction of any kind 
except what may be included in the ceremonies in honor 
of China’s ancient sage on Confucius’ Birthday. 


OPPORTUNITIES IN EDUCATION 


Such then is the present state of formal education 
in Phenix Village. It is maintained by moieties of the 


248 COUNTRY, LIFE IN SOUTH Cah 


village because their leaders understand the necessity 
of schools for the transmission of mores and the control 
of the younger generation. When asked why they have 
schools at all, they very promptly quote a well-known 
saying of Mencius: ‘‘If you don’t use a square and 
compass, you cannot make a square or acircle.’’ With 
the changing values in modern life, these same leaders 
hardly know what they want to make out of their 
children, except that they want them to have modern 
education, as though that possessed a magical potency 
all of its own. 

It is evident that Phenix Village possesses a scheme of 
formal education far from satisfactory. There is no 
unity in educational approach to community needs nor 
diversity in method and determination of objective, 
such as is required by the varying needs of different 
pupils from different types of families. The administra- 
tive control of the schools is not centralized. In view 
of village objectives—the regulation of personal growth 
to conform to conventions—the schools are, however, 
quite efficient. The teachers are allowed broad scope 
in their control of the details of the curriculum and it 
would be unwise to minimize the value of the changes 
they have effected in content and in methods of teaching 
and in securing discipline; but they are subject only to 
a section of community opinion. The teacher is quite 
naturally sensitive and responsive for rice-bowl reasons 
to his immediate constituency. He consciously does 
what he thinks his supporting group desires; he rep-. 
resents them and inculcates their value-schemes in the 
pupils. 

If these value-schemes are admitted from personal 
or national reasons to be satisfactory then it is well. If 
not, there should be set up in the village some agency 


EDUCATION AND THE SCHOOLS 240 


that might correct subversive or anti-community ten- 
dencies, paying due attention at all times to the strain 
that local mores and themistes! can bear without arousing 
community opposition. Progressive teachers have done 
much and can do more, for they are looked upon by 
the villagers as experts, and are generally let alone so 
long as they seem to be imposing the stereotypes valued 
by the supporting groups. Wise leadership in these 
positions could slowly but effectively transform the life 
of the community. 


EDUCATION OF GIRLS 


The village taboo upon education for girls seems no 
weaker to-day than in 1905 when the first attempts at 
modernization were made. Regarding girls as negative 
values, and therefore unworthy of educational expend- 
iture, is a serious handicap to the intellectual resources 
of the rural community. That is why village women 
are more superstitious than men and have a harder 
time to escape the perils of ennui except through constant 
toil in home, field and orchard. The worst of this sit- 
uation is that the people are tied up in a vicious circle. 
If everyone would begin to educate his daughter, it 
would be a fair exchange of expenditure, for the girls 
married into Phenix Village would bring with them 
_ learning and resourcefulness that would compensate the 
village for its own loss in the daughters married out. 
But few like to begin the process, or bear the initial 
costs, for the chances of return are still too hazardous. 
Some people are overcoming this difficulty by stipulating 
at the time of betrothment that the girl’s family is to 
provide a certain amount of school education. Others 
are solving the problem by underwriting the expenses 


1See Jane Harrison, Themis. 


250 COUNTRY?! LIFE, IN*SOUTH GEE 


of the betrothed girl’s education themselves. The 
education of girls constitutes a good objective criterion 
of the growth of civism and a shift away from 
familicentrism. 

While the foregoing is true so far as it is applied 
to the formal education that is assigned by the commu- 
nity to the schools, it is far from true if applied to the 
extra-school education of either boys or girls. 


SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY 


In fact, so different is the training of the young outside 
the school, in the home, shop, field, temple and ancestral 
hall that an analysis of the contrasts justifies the general- 
ization that formal education functions for participation 
in national life with which few villagers come into contact 
rather than in the life of the village community. ‘This 
may have some value as a projective basis for civism 
but is far from a completely valid objective. 

The memorizing of classical selections does put the 
possessor of such literary, historical, and ethical materials 
en rapport with those in the village who have gone through 
the same or a similar educational mill, who have been 
inducted into the same universe of discourse; but it 
does not help him to grow bananas that will bring a 
better price on the market, nor reach new appreciations 
of art or natural beauty, nor create improvements in 
human relations. It does not provide him with an 
adequate technic of life-adjustment except in the tool- 
subjects—the abacus, calligraphy, letter-writing, reading 
and simple accounting. 

The bulk of education for effective participation in 
that life enjoyed by most of the people of the village 
is not provided in the schools at all but is attained 
either by the inculcation of attitudes and values by 


EDUCATION AND THE SCHOOLS 251 


‘the group members on occasion—harvesting, cooking 
‘rice, ancestral worship—or by the sheer unconscious 
‘imitation of the experiences encountered by the youth 
‘of the village. If the children were educated in the 
‘schools without ever having come into contact with 
their original community life and were later set down 
in Phenix Village, they would find themselves possessing 
only the most limited means for effective participation 
and would be at a great loss in the direct and pressing 
adjustments necessary from day to day. 
There is small wonder that the village supports schools 
-as it does. With the loss of the recognized scholar 
and his potentialities for official rank and prestige, the 
‘practical value of the schools is hardly discernible. 
_Education as it is seems to be ‘‘face-education.’’ More 
‘or less unconsciously, the villagers have by their laissez- 
fatre attitude indicated an inarticulate demand that the 
‘schools directly and immediately contribute to village 
life. Were they so to contribute, a better support would 
be possible. The lack of support is incorrectly interpreted 
and grievously lamented by the present instructors. 
Inasmuch as this social situation has been practically 
the same for centuries, one would expect to find social 
devices for the provision of participation-education 
as against face-education. In so far as the school as 
a special agency has failed in its task of providing educa- 
tion for participation in the fundamental activities of 
the community, other agencies have had to supplement 
the work of the school. What educational functions 
are performed by other community institutions, the 
ancestral hall, the home, the temple, the field, the 
market? Do these agencies educate for participation 
in continuity primarily or for progressive change and 
readjustment? If the former, does the school have the 





252 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


responsibility to educate for participation in change? 
In what ways? For what specific situations? 

In the past, while the school was the special agency 
in the community for face-education, the home was 
the most effective agency of continuous education for 
participation in the actual life of the community. Since 
the girls were generally excluded from face-education 
they were dependent entirely upon ‘‘hard-level’’ partici- 
pation-education for their development. To study this 
extra-school education it is best to investigate the activ- 
ities of girls and their training for their work.  Inci- 
dentally, the extra-school or participation-education of 
boys may also be conveniently indicated. The severest 
arraignment of the face-education program is that the 
parents did not think it was worth while to spend time 
and money on it for girls. There was nothing in it to 
fit a girl for her recognized duties and so she had to be 
content with the education of an informal kind. 


ANALYSIS OF GIRLS’ ACTIVITIES 


Following is a list of the girls’ activities. Those in 
which boys rarely engage but sometimes carry on are 
marked thus (*) and those more commonly engaged in 
by boys are marked thus (f). 


Sew clothes 
Spin 
Weave—girls go where the looms are to learn 
Help mothers to cultivate gardensf 
Cook rice,* vegetables, meat 
Prepare sweets for festivals and ancestral worship 
Wash clothes by pounding, dishes, etc. 
Harvest fruitT 
Sweep floorsT 
_ Clean furnituref 
Care for toilet buckets 


EDUCATION AND THE SCHOOLS 253 


Bathe the baby, once a night in summer, in winter once a 
week* 

Feed the baby—must not give beef, mutton, or goose to 
baby but can give pork 

Carry the babyt 

Make a fire and clean the stove 

Market—use of scales in purchasingt 

Care for poultry—feed ducks or geese and drive them to 
water; call pigs and feed them three times a day; feed the 
buffalot 

Pickle and dry food—vegetables and pork 

Sell produce at village or in Chaochow—brooms, cloth, 
geese and vegetablest 

Watch cropst 

Pound and grind ricet 


HOME TRAINING 


Girls are trained by the mothers and elder women in 
the proper ways of carrying on the activities listed above. 
They are also taught the village mores for girls in the 
following: 


How to receive guests, to serve tea and things to eat. 

The details of conduct in marriage ceremonies, duties 
toward new parents and other members of husband’s fami- 
list group. 

How to worship, what shrines and for what purposes: 
kitchen gods for prosperity in the home; the sky god for 
a good marriage; on the eighth month, the moon god; 
Gwan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, for those who are sick; 
visit the graves of ancestors at Tsing Ming, spring festival, 
and worship with mother by shooting off firecrackers and 
burning yellow paper as money for the spirits; burn silver 
paper when the men are performing the ceremonies of 
ancestral worship in the Ancestral Hall or Temple or in 
the home at the following times: the fifth month, the 
middle of the seventh month, autumn festival, and the 
eleventh month or winter festival. 


254 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


Quite as important as the things a girl must do are the 
taboos. Girls must learn that they cannot play, sit 
or eat with boys; that they cannot talk with strangers; 
cannot worship ancestors themselves; must not disobey 
parents; must not quarrel; must not walk on the street 
alone nor eat things on the street. 

Thus their entire education is for participation in 
familist activities in their narrowest spheres. The chief 
aim in a girl’s education is the inculcation of ancient 
stereotypes of female conduct. All the older members 
of her family, natural, economic, or religious, assist in 
informing her what she may or may not do in all sorts 
of situations, particularly in relation to her brothers, 
father, mother, uncles and her future husband and his 
parents. The possession of familist propriety attitudes 
is her greatest asset for a desirable marriage contract 
and for successful adjustment in her new home after 
marriage. | 

For the practical achievement of this vocational aim 
are inculcated the details of household duties as listed 
above. That this training might be completely practical 
the girl is early betrothed and inducted into her new home 
where her education is under the control of those whom 
she is to serve in adulthood. This effects a maximum 
assimilation into the husband’s group. By the time her 
marriage takes place, she has acquired all the niceties 
of status distinction between herself and the other 
members of the group. 

In addition to constant inculcation of the village mores. 
and the specific variant attitudes of the betrothed hus-. 
band’s group, the girl acquires much of value to her 
through imitation. Thus she comes to know the idio-| 
syncrasies of the behavior and taste of her future 
husband and is, therefore, ready to render that loyal 


EDUCATION AND THE SCHOOLS 255 


and obedient and efficient service to him that custom 
demands. 

The great defect of this mode of education of wives- 
to-be is that no critical suggestions, such as might be 
introduced through school education in household arts 
in well organized schools, are ever brought to bear upon 
familist practices. The whole direction of social pressure 
upon her is toward maintenance of past practice and 
attitude. On the whole, for life at present in Phenix 
Village, the experience of the group that is imposed upon 
her is quite adequate, as regards her status as daughter, 
betrothed-wife, or married-wife, except in the care of 
children. Here her education is very poor. Village 
customs in the care of children are bad—feeding the 
baby whenever it cries rather than at stated intervals; 
feeding the infant wrong foods and in wrong ways; 
handling and disciplining children, frequently in a cruel 
manner which represses the growing personality. Any 
innovations on the girl’s part would be considered pre- 
sumptuous and unfilial. The ways of the mother-in- 
law are the best ways. 

From the point of view of familist values,—stability, 
order, harmony, obedience, fidelity, humility and serv- 
ice—the mode of education can hardly be improved 
upon. For these ends the technic historically devised 
seems well-nigh perfect. 

Although this method of home-education for girls 
has been applied for generations because it is practical 
and cheap, slight modifications are now appearing in 
Phenix Village among the more progressive groups. 
Such changes are occurring at those points in the sib 
where imported wives introduce modifications of ancient 
mores in harmony with their earlier experience in the 
urban centers of Chinese immigration. In fact, as 


256 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


already mentioned, these innovations are the causes 
of discord and derangement in familist life. They are 
also being effected, though very slightly indeed, by 
what the few girls who have been admitted into the 
schools, learn there. In the latter instance, the change 
is not so much one of objective modification of practice 
as shift of personal attitudes. Probably a generation 
or two will be needed before such changed attitudes 
will find opportunity of expression in family conditions. 
For it must be remembered that the girls of Phenix 
Village who learn new ways or ideas would, upon marry- 
ing out of their own community, encounter the inertia 
of custom and the opposition of people in the adopted 
groups, if those groups are conservative. Conversely, 
girls from conservative groups marrying into Phenix 
Village do not bring about changes there. 


INFORMAL EDUCATION OF BOYS 


In the case of boys, the practice is not so simple 
because the variety of occupations open to them is 
greater than for girls. While for participation in the 
familist or village life the educative process is partly 
inculcation of specific skills needed in assisting parents, 
generally the boy picks up his extra-school skills and 
information. Year after year he beholds the dramatic 
procession of village crises and the ways of his elders 
in dealing with them: birth, betrothal, marriage, death 
and burial, at feast times and at the rites of ancestral 
worship. He is always an interested spectator because 
of the inherent glamor of procession and ceremony. By 
the time he arrives at the age of active participation 
he is thoroughly versed in the réle he is expected to play. 

In the acquirement of occupational skills, imitation 
plays an important part. When the boys are free from 


EDUCATION AND THE SCHOOLS 257 


school, they see the methods and practices followed in 
their fathers’ shops or fields and secure a basis for later 
instruction when they leave the school and take up 
apprenticeship. Although there is no caste distinction 
that requires a son to adopt the occupation of his parent, 
it actually works out that way in many cases. 


APPRENTICESHIP 


Apprenticeship is more clearly recognized and possesses 
more definite modes of procedure in the trades than in 
agriculture. The shopkeeper, tradesman or artisan 
who takes a boy as an apprentice has practically the 
rights of a father as long as the apprenticeship continues. 
The vocational education may be hard but is untram- 
melled with social restrictions; instruction may be 
reénforced with severe disciplinary measures if necessary ; 
and finally, it is continuous. 

If a boy is apprenticed to a man, his period of voca- 
tional training has no fixed limit, except as stipulated in 
the contract of apprenticeship drawn between the father 
and the man. Otherwise, maturity, marriage, or ability 
to set up independently determines the cessation of the 
relation. When the boy learns from his father or from 
his father’s assistants, he continues to work and to add 
income to the familist funds until a division of the 
property of the father occurs, either upon the decision 
of the father or upon common consent of the successors 
after the father’s death. So in the latter case, the 
period of apprenticeship ceases at no definite time; but 
as maturity and skill increase, the boy gradually builds 
up for himself a reputation for ability and a status of 
journeyman or tradesman. These last categorical 
distinctions are not clearly recognized in Phenix Village 
because of the familial character of the training and of 


258 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 





the productive and ownership features of the work 
which the boy carries on. 


PLAY EDUCATION 


The imitative character of the learning process of 
boys is further illustrated by their play activities... As 
already noted, parents generally taboo play as a waste 
of valuable time. Teachers reflect parents’ attitudes. 
Consequently, there is no formal instruction in play. 
The boy learns fortuitously by association in small 
play groups. The child is corrected and guided by 
his playmates. : 

Parents may be seen fondling infants or small children 
in a play spirit and mothers frequently amuse themselves 
with the natural playfulness of such, but when the 
school-age is reached, life is supposed to proceed on 
a work-level and] play is ruled out. Only occasionally 
do parents encourage play, in which cases one finds a 
recurrence of the hiatus between theoretical attitudes 


1The term imitation and the phrase imitative learning need explanation 
so as not to be misunderstood. Imitation is suggestion carried into activity, 
subjective in thought or attitude or objective in behavior. Imitation would then 
be tantamount to similarity of behavior arising out of responses to the same or 
similar stimuli. Jmitative learning does not imply passivity on the part of the 
learners. Learning is ever and always an active process, an achievement of 
a technic of readjustment. This results from the discovery of the meaning of 
suggestions found in an environment in terms of the advance, or maintenance or 
defense of the status of the self, as a person conceives that status or réle to be in 
the group in which he is participating. Imitative learning is taken to mean re- 
sponse to suggestions of sufficient similarity that the resulting behavior of one 
person is similar to the behavior of another person already responding to the 
same or similar stimuli. The behavior of one person in response to a recognized 
stimulus might direct the attention of a second person to the same stimulus 
which would suggest a response similar to the behavior of the first person. This 
can justly be called a type of imitation. But to copy behavior directly from 
a person without reference to a stimulus that is accepted because of a critical 
handling by the self-complex in terms of a person’s réle in a group, does not 
exist. That is the traditional meaning of the phrase imitative learning but it 
is not the idea contained in the term as used in this analysis. 





EDUCATION AND THE SCHOOLS 259 


and practical behavior, and of the conflict between 
conventionality and personality. 

The only formal and approved recreational education 
beyond the physical drill, is given in the Music Club 
and in the Boxing Club. The number of boys privileged 
to enjoy such education for a wholesome use of leisure 
is relatively limited. For this reason, such education is 
highly prized by the village lads. 


RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 


Informal religious education is so bound up with the 
ordinary familist process of incorporating the growing 
personality into the fixed societal scheme and of getting 
the boy to accept the traditional definitions of social sit- 
uations and to utilize the accepted modes of resolving 
crises in personal or familist experience, that it cannot 
be treated separately from what has been described as 
the method of education for participation in familist 
life. 

The content of the boy’s religious experience tends 
toward the merging of his personality into two groups: 
the natural and living community and the supernatural 
community, and only incidentally into the immediate 
social community. 

The necromancy that aims at the determination of 
purpose of the spirits of wind and water toward village 
fortunes—the burning of candles and of paper as simple 
rites in honor of the gods of the soil or tree, the magical 
performances, such as calling to the wind or pasting 
red paper inscribed with felicitous characters upon 
door-posts and tools, discharging firecrackers, observing 
the rites of the kitchen god—a long list of dramatic and 
striking procedures—all teach the boy or girl how to 
become a harmonious member of the natural community. 


260 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


The worship of ancestors and the worship of the 
village gods in the local temples indicate how a person 
can snuggle into a peaceful niche in the supernatural 
community. That these magical rites bear a clearly 
recognized relation to the successful control of the 
supernatural members of the community for the sake 
of the present good of the living members of the village 
community, only conduces to increase the concentration 
of interest of maturing members of the village commu- 
nity and so makes more effective their education by 
suggestion. So do religious experiences reénforce familist 
solidarity and village unity, especially in Phenix Village 
where sib and village are coterminous. Religious prac- 
tices help to merge the growing personality into the 
immediate social community by virtue of the sanctions 
of the villagers upon all those young people who conform 
to them. 

In summary, formal education in Phenix Village is 
mainly ‘‘face-education,’ aimed at participation in 
projected experiences in the larger culture area that 
few will ever enjoy; while the informal education inducts 
the young into conformity and continuity of the village 
ethnos. 





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PLATE VIII 








XIV. VILLAGE SCHOOL “A” IN ANCESTRAL HALL an 





XV. THE ORIGINAL ANCESTRAL HALL OF PHENIX VILLAGE 


CHAPTER IX 


ART AND RECREATION 


The esthetic interests and the use of leisure time 
afford in some ways the most reliable data for the analysis 
of attitudes and values of a group. These phases of life 
in Phenix Village exhibit, on the one hand, the pressure 
of physical environment upon the means of subsistence, 
some of the effects of a deficit economy, the poverty 
of the esthetic or recreational suggestions found in the 
community,—and on the other, a fundamental apprecia- 
tion of beauty of line, color and tone, and of the recrea- 
tional values of play and fun,—classical taboos upon 
play notwithstanding. 


SHARP CONTRASTS 


There is scarcely anything that impresses the resident 
of China more than the laughter, apparent good-feeling 
and enjoyment of fun in the midst of the direst poverty, 
filth, distress or bereavement. Life is made up in Phenix 
Village of sharp contrasts of fun and sorrow, of success 
and loss, of birth and death, of the life here and the life 
hereafter. Though steeped in severest hardship, a man 
is never too far gone to laugh at a good joke or to enjoy 
his accustomed amusement. Stoical and_ practical, 
the villager accepts life as it is. He makes the most of 
what comes to him; he drains the cup to the bottom. 
The quick shifts of emotion follow endlessly in dramatic 
train. Periods of eating the crudest sort of food are 
broken into with feasts that provide all the delectables 
ordinarily omitted for lack of the purchase price. The 


262 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


rapid succession of pleasure and pain in village life is 
paralleled by a dualistic philosophy of life that illumi- 
nates its esthetic poverty. 

This dualism characterizes not only their concepts of 
thought and their experience but also their esthetic 
appreciation and artistic expression. For example, no 
matter how poor the family or how drab the house 
may be there are always signs of the esthetic interest. 
(See Illustration V, facing p. 14.) The floor may be of 
mud, the walls unpainted; piles of refuse may block the 
doorway or fill the corners of a room; dogs and chickens, 
and even pigs, may share the house; but the most offen- 
sive ugliness is punctured with objects that indicate an 
artistic appreciation. 


FONDNESS FOR ART 


That such sharp contrasts in beauty and ugliness 
rest directly upon poverty and ignorance is shown by 
the fact that the esthetic harmony of a home increases 
in direct proportion to the wealth. The poorest homes 
have the fewest art objects; the richest, the most. But 
even the wealthiest family with the newest and most 
richly decorated house has allowed the beauty of the 
house to be marred by refuse, by agricultural imple- 
ments in the corners of the courts, by seeds hanging un- 
der the projecting eaves, and by the raw materials used 
in domestic occupations. In such a case the lack of 
beauty is caused not by poverty but by ignorance of 
sanitation, absence of habits of domestic cleanliness, 
and by the demands of rural occupational practices. 
Separate houses or barns for the storing of agricultural 
implements are not found in the village. Unoccupied 
rooms or unused entrance halls or the space before the 
ancestral tablets are assigned to storage purposes, and 


ART AND RECREATION 263 


have been so used for generations. This practice leaves 
plows, winnowing machines, hoes, looms and drying 
baskets conspicuous from the road. (See Illustration 
XV, facing p. 261.) This is a distinctive characteristic 
of the rural home, for wealthy urban homes, while in- 
sanitary in places, are not cluttered with implements. 
Urban homes of the middle economic classes are quite 
similar to rural homes in this respect. Thus the manner 
and forms of esthetic expression are governed by tradi- 
tion and by occupational exigencies; the amounts are 
determined by wealth. 

There is no doubt that significant improvements in 
beautifying the home could readily be established through 
proper consideration of such matters in the schools. 
Unfortunately, the art that is included in the educational 
program of the village schools concerns itself generally 
with infertile attempts at production. Useful as some 
such instruction is for certain capable students, the more 
important type of art instruction would emphasize 
education for consumption: home decoration, removal 
of unsightly objects when out of use, principles of se- 
lection of art objects, practical experience in arrange- 
ment of furniture, methods of cleanliness and the proper 
control of livestock. Lacking such education, the village 
folk remain insensitive to esthetic incongruities and 
consequently offer no specific disapprovals of common 
practice. It is social habit in a rural situation. The 
folkways in this regard will not be changed until the 
schools sensitize the students concerning these in- 
congruities and train them in practical methods of 
beautification. 

The ubiquitous evidences of art appreciation indicate 
that a ready response would be found to the simplest 
kind of leadership in this direction. Both of the new 


264 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


schools afford splendid illustrations of what the teachers 
and students can do in general beautification of school 
surroundings. But there is no definite attempt to make 
the school experience carry over into the homes. Nor is 
there any effort to extend the influence of the schools 
directly to the homes by any form of adult education 
on such matters. A simple campaign for home beauti- 
fication would entail no radical changes. The restric- 
tion of the freedom and the proper placement of the 
livestock, the disposal of occupational implements and 
raw materials so as to be out of sight, a regular cleaning of 
the central court, would make all but the very poor homes 
really places of charm and beauty. Even the poorest 
home could be greatly improved by such changes. 
Similar contrasts appear when looking over the village 
as a whole. Thus the surroundings of some of the most 
beautiful buildings are marked by ugliness due either 
to decay and neglect or thoughtlessness. Mud holes 
through which the village folk sludge in rainy weather, 
decayed and broken trees, tumbled-down walls, piles 
of refuse, bundles of underbrush for fuel, rooting pigs, 
chickens, ducks and geese, broken fences, clothes hung 
out to dry,—all detract from the beauty of the better 
homes and add to the unattractiveness of the poor ones. 
Many signs, such as portions of well-laid street pave- 
ments, approaches to some of the public buildings, the 
flagstones and bunding! on the shore of the pond, the 
old paint on the buildings of a better character, indicate 
a period when the general beauty of the village was a 
matter of public concern. At the present moment 
currents of energy and thought flow through and out 
of the village, leaving it with an appearance of decadence. 
That these conditions are the result of emigration 


1Retaining wall. 


ART AND RECREATION 265 


cannot be doubted. Whether they can be improved 
with the present resources of interest in the village is 
not at all certain. 

A white wall glistening in the sunlight, a beautiful 
new home decorated with drawings of historical scenes, 
occasional clumps of well-arranged trees in fruit orchards 
are forms of the abiding interest of those who, having 
taken up residence abroad, return and build anew. These 
occasional signs of prosperity and life relieve the general 
impression of neglect of family and public property. 

In the poorest as well as in the wealthiest homes, are 
modern posters and illustrated calendars. Usually they 
contain either advertising materials in color-print or 
some scene from Chinese history. Photographs of 
individuals and groups are becoming increasingly com- 
mon, though they are not found in many of the poorer 
homes. 


ART OF THE INK 


Chinese education has long emphasized instruction 
in the use of the brush pen for character writing. Every 
student old and new, who has worked with the brush, 
appreciates characters beautifully written. Every writer 
is more or less of an artist. Everyone, student, scholar, 
housewife has actually acquired a high artistic appre- 
ciation of character writing. “That characters possess 
a mystical power is shown by the care taken of paper 
with either writing or printing upon it and by the burning 
of paper with inscribed characters. It is probable that 
in the case of the unschooled, the prevalence of scrolls 
is due more to the magic qualities of the characters 
upon them than to real esthetic interests. But even 
the illiterate folk openly admire the beauty of the flowing 
line and the skill of the shading. 


266 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


These scrolls are inscribed with felicitous characters, 
usually excerpts from religious scriptures or classic 
histories. They vary in width and length, are always 
oblong,and are hung vertically. The size of the characters 
depends upon the number inscribed. Those written by 
famous scholars who possessed unusual ability in callig- 
raphy are the pride of the village and are really quite 
valuable. The ordinary ones are of white paper inscribed 
with black ink. The writing begins at the top and reads 
downward. Somewhere, usually in the lower left-hand 
corner or in the upper right-hand corner, the calligrapher 
inserts the date of inscription and his name. Scrolls 
are hung in pairs. Upon special occasions, such as 
weddings, store openings, birthdays and so on, red scrolls 
are offered as gifts. The writing expresses the wishes 
of the giver for the happiness and prosperity of the 
recipient. Red is the color for good fortune and felicity. 
Red scrolls of the more expensive kind are further 
embellished with a stippling of gold paint over the entire 
surface of the scrolls. 

The prevalence of beautifully written characters is 
indeed a prominent culture trait. For example, red 
paper with the characters for happiness, long life, wealth 
or the surname of the family are pasted on door-posts 
or on doors or walls. Before many of the entrances of 
the homes, particularly in the more crowded portions 
of the village, large lanterns inscribed with the family 
name are suspended. In the large homes, such as the 
one represented in Figure 5 (page 153), they are hung 
in the inner main court before the ancestral tablets. 

The art of the ink seems, therefore, to have both a 
utilitarian and an esthetic value. The utilitarian aspects 
are to be seen most clearly at the New Year festival 
period. Then generous use is made of red paper inscribed 


ART AND RECREATION 267 


with good luck characters. Their power to bring good 
fortune or prevent evil is not clearly understood, but their 
prevalence bases on a belief in a mystical efficacy. The 
“doubting Thomases’”’ tell you that they are not at 
all sure that they are any good; but it is better to be on 
the safe side—‘‘they might help.’”’ The credulous 
believe in their efficacy quite sincerely and follow the 
folkways with great care. The forms of these magical 
practices will be set forth in detail under the analysis 
of religion. 

Paintings and drawings are made on silk or paper in 
the same general form as the scrolls. Most frequently 
they are executed in two colors only—black and white. 
Perspective is not secured by the devices common to 
Western art but by differentiation in the strength or 
depth of black color. Nearness is portrayed by deep 
heavy black which varies to very faint gray for the 
more distant portions of a scene. 

Two types of drawing are common in the village, the 
impressionistic drawing, usually highly conventionalized 
strokes of the brush pen, or realistic reproduction wherein 
the details are executed with great exactness. The 
latter commonly deals with animals, flowers, or birds; 
the former, with scenery. When the two types are 
combined, a very pleasing effect is secured by the contrast 
of realistic representation of life in the foreground against 
an idealistic and conventionalized setting of hills, woods, 
water and clouds. 

In the ancient village school, the center of traditional 
scholastic interest, now decadent and fast going to 
ruin, there are a number of paintings done in color— 
reds, blues and yellows predominating—of village ances- 
tors. They are executed with the greatest care, each 
detail of personal feature or embroidered robe having 


268 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


been painted with patient accuracy. These men and 
women, famous in village folklore, are thus preserved 
in life-size representation. They are regularly displayed 
at occasions of village ancestor worship or other im- 
portant ceremonies. 

These paintings are merely rolled up, placed in an 
open gallery on the second floor of the old school house, 
uncared for, exposed to the ravages of weather and 
insect. No one seems to take any special interest in 
their preservation. Such splendid art objects ought to 
be preserved in the modern schools or in a small village 
museum. Their loss is great not only to the village but 
to the country. 


MURAL PAINTING 


Quite as common as the ink drawings to be found in 
practically all but the very poorest homes, are the rep- 
resentation of village gods and historic figures that 
adorn the walls and doors of the more pretentious homes. 
These are done in combinations of color with the usual 
detail on the figures against conventionalized suggestions 
in the background. They make attractive enrichments 
of otherwise white walls or plain doors and add much 
to the beauty of the village. 

The finest example of this mural painting was found 
on the largest new residence in the village, as shown in 
Illustration XII. Across the entire front, immediately 
under the eaves, is a continuous series of paintings beau- 
tifully rendered. They deal with famous historical 
incidents and scenes. Two large special paintings 
embellish the panels on each side of the recess of the 
main entrance. Sometimes a frieze of paintings will 
run up both sides of the gable fronts and connect with 
special paintings analogously set into the gable peaks. 





THE 





is 


TY OF ILLINOIS 


= 


RSIT 


= 


a 






PLATE IX 





XVI. THE ENTRANCE TO THE VILLAGE TEMPLE. MILITARY 
HEROES GUARD THE HOLY OBJECTS WITHIN 
FROM EVIL SPIRITS 


ART AND RECREATION 269 


In striking contrast to the minuteness and delicacy of 
the art panels just described, are the large and conspicu- 
ous paintings on the gable ends of the most recently 
built home of the village. They are about three-fourths 
life-size drawings in colors, also representations of fig- 
ures famous in village folklore. It was impossible to 
learn from the villagers just who they were. All en- 
quiries were met with the common phrase of the un- 
schooled, ‘‘famous men.”’ 

That these mural paintings serve to mark off and 
accentuate the wealth or prestige of the occupants and 
owners of the houses cannot be doubted. They serve 
the double social function of satisfying the wishes for 
new experience and dominance—providing enjoyment 
of art and classifying the people. The more pretentious 
the house, the larger and the higher it is, the more mural 
decoration of this sort is displayed. Naturally, only the 
houses made of solid walls, plastered with a coat of lime, 
could be decorated in this fashion. Thus the ornateness 
and excellence of the mural paintings serve as indices 
of wealth and social status. 

The pictures on the doors of homes and on the doors 
and walls of village temples are of protective gods, fre- 
quently warriors storied in classical accounts of famous 
battles. Their fierce demeanor and flashing swords 
are designed to frighten away evil spirits. In addition 
to their esthetic value, they also help to satisfy the wish 
for security,—an ever-present wish where fears of multi- 
tudes of evil spirits are as common as among the untu- 
tored villagers of this rural district. 

In addition to the mural art, conventionalized and 
symbolic designs and drawings decorate panels beside 
main entrances, lintels and door-posts, window-frames 
on all four sides, eave-boards, gable ends, roof beams 


270 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


and pillars. Only the houses of the “poor families”’ 
are not so decorated. The fact that a few of the families 
at present classified as “‘poor”’ live in dwellings a story 
and a half high and with artistic embellishments of 
these kinds indicates a declining prosperity of the 
occupants. 

An interesting and significant trait of these decora- 
tions—one characteristic, in fact, of the art traits of the 
village culture complex—is that they are always set in 
symmetrical but contrasting arrangements. The princi- 
ple of balance is universally applied except where architec- 
tural design prohibits. For example, the lintel has no 
corresponding surface available for decoration at the 
foot of the door. The door-step exists (Illustrations 
V and XV) to be sure, but decoration would soon be 
obliterated through use. Consequently, the central 
portion of the lintel is frequently treated in a special 
manner. There will be found either a character, painted 
or chiseled, the mystic symbol of origin and expansion, 
or the ubiquitous octogram,! either painted in several 
colors or modelled in clay and then painted—all supposed 
to bring happiness and good luck. (Illustration V.) 


LACQUER 


A third type of painting is that to be found on all 
lacquer work. In the ancestral hall of each great house, 
facing into the central and main court, is the cabinet 
that contains the tablets of each of the family ancestors. 
The costliness and beauty of the ancestral cabinets vary 
according to the wealth and prestige of the family. There 
are the huge cabinets in which are placed the tablets 
of the great ancestors of the religious families and the 
sib as a whole; then there are the tablets of the more 


1 See Frontispiece. 


ART AND RECREATION 271 





immediate and personal ancestors of the present natural- 
and economic-families which are contained in the smaller 
cabinets of the homes, about one or two feet in height. 
In the homes of the poor families, these small cabinets 
may not be very high; they are made of ordinary wood 
and painted red, with some decoration in black lines. 
But among the wealthier families even the small cabinets 
may be lacquered and embellished with beautiful scenic 
painting. 

Some of the large cabinets that range from four to 
eight feet in height represent all stages of decay and 
all degrees of beauty. In the large new house mentioned 
above (Illustration XII) is to be found an art treasure 
that could be placed in any of the finest museums of 
the world and attract wide attention. In this home, 
immediately opposite the main entrance, and visible 
from the road when the doors are open, stands one of 
the most beautiful cabinets of the countryside. It is 
lacquered throughout and the two huge doors are further 
enriched with beautiful paintings done in gold paint 
on a black background. The workmanship is exquisite; 
for delicacy of touch, breadth of conception, richness 
in contrast, it is a masterpiece. And yet the villagers 
pass this door day by day without bestowing any excep- 
tional notice upon it. Its wonderful beauty has been 
‘accepted and enjoyed in the same spirit that the full 
‘moon or the hazy mountains are accepted—as a matter 
of course. 


| 


CARVING 


{ 
| 


_ Next to the paintings, in point of prevalence, are 
carvings in stone or modellings in clay. The furniture 
in all the better homes is highly carved—tables, chairs, 
‘beds, bureaus and cabinets. The eaves and ends of 








272 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


roof-beams and rafters, whether of wood or of stone, all 
visible parts that an artist can work upon and a person 
behold, are carved. The stone lintels and door-posts 
of the finer houses are carved in great detail. Flowers, 
scenes from ancient history, groups of classical figures 
are carved in bas-relief. The general lines of conception 
for carving around entrances are similar to those found 
in paintings that are exhibited in similarly important 
places in the homes. Even in the poorer homes it is 
possible to find a surprising amount of carved work. 
Less fine in execution, perhaps, it still resembles the 
ornateness of the finer houses. 

Then there are the gods and images of the temples, 
modelled and carved representations of village lore and 
myth—concretions of folk wishes. Over the clay models, 
red paint and gold leaf are spread in pleasing effect. In 
every religious procession they sit on highly decorated 
thrones; between times, they inspire fear or hope in 
the hearts of the troubled villagers as they come to the 
temple to pray. (See Illustration XVII, facing page 294.) 

The greater houses, and particularly the ancestral 
temples of the sib moieties, are adorned with porcelain 
objects, painted and enamelled. Animals, flowers, the 
mythical phenix bird and the dragon are combined in 
ways peculiar and grotesque to the Western eye. (See 
Illustrations XII and XV.) This enamel work is found 
on the ridge of the front roof of the ancestral home, 
panels inserted by the main entrance, the eave tiles, 
balustrades of porches or terraces (Illustrations V and 
XIT), on water kangs, flower pots, bowls, dishes and vases. 


ARCHITECTURE 


In the architecture of the homes, excepting those of 
the very poor families, the principle of balance finds 


ART AND RECREATION 273 


perfect expression. For example, in the ancestral home 
several times referred to (Illustration XII), door matches 
door, beam matches beam, gable is set off against gable; 
the lanterns are paired, so also the art insets beside 
the main entrance (Illustration XV), the scrolls and 
drawings over and above it. The entrance has two doors, 
both of which are decorated with red scrolls on which 
are painted in black, characters that contrast sym- 
metrically in form and meaning. Across the front of 
the house, and separating the terrace from the road 
(Illustration XII), extends a wall. Broken at two 
points equi-distant from the end and enriched with a 
porcelain balustrade, it slopes gracefully and gently 
toward the middle, lending both variety and beauty 
to the home. 

This formal and symmetrical arrangement is also 
carried out in the plan of the larger houses (Figure 5). 
Door is set against door, pillar opposite pillar, room to 
room, and the whole is joined throughout making a 
continuous unity in construction. The architectural 
form provides a fitting material setting for the social 
organization of the family, at once varied and unified; 
varied in membership and temperament but unified 
through name and blood. The home plan furnishes the 
separateness needed for the intimacies and privacies 
of family life and yet joins the members into bonds of 
common interest and companionships. In fact, the 
architecture of these large village homes can be under- 
stood only in terms of familist organization and relation- 
ship. Conversely, the latter are illumined by envisaging 
these physical settings. 

The roofs are tiled alike throughout the village, as is 
illustrated by any of the photographs of the houses. 
The lines are straight both on the ridge and along the 


274 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


gables. There are no curved roofs. The tiles on the 
ridge are displaced in the wealthier homes by porcelain 
decorations already described, or are arranged in an 
intricate fashion in order to add beauty to utility. No 
gargoyles are found in the village. 

The walls are made of a mortar of pounded lime 
and coarse sand. They are windowless and bare, with 
the exception of the mural paintings previously described. 
When covered with a new coat of lime wash, their 
glowing whiteness contrasts pleasingly with the deep 
green of the surrounding orchards. 

The doors are usually set back from the line of the 
main wall in front, which makes a covered entrance and 
breaks into the architectural monotony of the solid 
wall. The construction of the door is very simple: two 
door-posts of solid stone rest upon a piece at the bottom 
which forms the threshold, and a solid piece crosses at 
the top for a lintel. (Illustration XVI.) Inside, two 
doors swing on wooden pegs as hinges, extending from 
the top and bottom and fitting into grooves in the lintel 
and in the doorstep. The screech these doors make 
when they are opened each morning by the slave girl 
has been for centuries the substitute for a modern alarm 
clock. 


MINOR ART OBJECTS 


Minor art objects are too numerous to be described. 
They include jewelry, such as gold rings, silver rings, 
hair ornaments, silver or jade bracelets, and jade ear- 
rings with silver or gold settings. The prevalence of 
jade raises it to an important culture-trait and is ac- 
counted for by its use in the marriage ceremonies. The 
poorest looking woman in the village wears beautiful 
jade ear-rings, if she has been married. In addition, there 


ART AND RECREATION 275 


are the draperies, such as bed curtains embroidered with 
flower designs, or hangings about the throne of the village 
god, made of silk and cotton and highly embroidered. 
Lanterns, candle-sticks, incense burners, chopsticks are 
all in common use and are generally embellished in 
some way or another. 

Finally, there are the artistic aspects of two objects 
of primary importance to every villager—the wedding 
chair and the coffin. The wedding chair is made of highly 
carved wood, painted with red or lacquered red and 
painted with gold, studded with bits of glass or mirror 
in order to resemble jewels. Inside the entrance to the 
chair are red embroidered curtains that conceal the 
occupant from the over-zealous gaze of the village youths. 
The wedding clothes, too, are objects of artistic adorn- 
ment. The skirt of the bride is made of red satin and 
embroidered with thread of gold. The headdress is 
quite elaborately made of gold leaf inset with blue 
feathers, cut to fit into the metal design. These articles 
of familist ceremony are used generation after genera- 
tion and are renewed only when they have practically 
fallen to pieces. 


CONVENTIONALITY IN ART 


It only remains to point out that while the variety 
of art objects and forms is great, the details of execu- 
tion represent the strictest adherence to custom. What 
can be seen at the present moment are forms that have 
predominated for centuries in Phenix Village. The only 
_new art object to be found in the village to-day is the 
photograph. The posters and calendars are merely 
color-prints of older forms of customary art. 

The general uniformity into which esthetic expression 
is cast further reénforces uniformity of behavior. The 


276 COUNTRY ULIFEVIN SOUTH Ghia 


limited number of stimuli to which the village folk are 
exposed determines the range of possible behavior as 
regards esthetic activity for either production or enjoy- 
ment. All the artistic forms are so conventional and 
fixed that they supply no new or divergent forces to 
conflict with other forms of village behavior. They set 
limits beyond which the person does not go, and so 
constitute one type of social control. Thus, they play 
a role in the village schematization of conduct and 
conduce to stabilization of personality. 

The close correlation between the quantity of art 
objects and wealth is demonstrated by their abundance 
in the great new homes built by the successful members 
of the village—men who have made their fortunes in 
the Straits Settlements. Whenever resources have 
permitted, art and its exploitation have become, as 
elsewhere in the world, indices of status, social and 
economic. There is, however, little art production in 
the village. The recent artistic creations have been 
executed by specialists imported from without the 
village. This is another good reason for shifting the 
educational objective of art education in the schools 
from production to appreciation and utilization. 

However, it must be kept in mind that the exploita- 
tion of conventional forms of art for the classification of 
village members and the determination of social status, 
creates per se disturbing elements in community rela- 
tions. As already stated, the wealthy people carry art 
expression to such a relatively high degree that the 
others cannot afford to follow. By thus distinguishing 
themselves, the wealthy can achieve a type of superior 
status, gain prestige and social recognition, but they 
thereby impose upon other members of the sib feelings 
of inferiority. 


ART AND RECREATION 277 


The source of their wealth has been primarily the 
areas of immigration in the Pacific Basin. Because the 
successful emigrants announce to the village their 
achievements by a conspicuous display of art, the 
attention of the villagers is directed to these areas from 
which the means for art display have come. The young 
people, meeting for the first time in their lives the 
stimulations of such unusual degrees of esthetic ex- 
pression—the decorated doors of ancestral cabinets or 
the riot of adornment on the exterior of new houses— 
develop dissatisfaction and desire to achieve similar 
prestige. They too break away. Quite apart from the 
tales of opportunity brought back by successful emigrants 
or recounted in letters, conspicuous artistic display re- 
sults in the weakening of the social control of tradition 
and arouses emulatory efforts during which the person 
is subjected to new and varying norms that lead him 
to break away from village standards, not in art but in 
morals. 

The separation is never complete, however, for the 
emigrant feels himself a member of the village com- 
munity even while in distant lands. This is shown by 
his willingness to return to Phenix Village, his remit- 
tance of funds, and his desire to improve his status in the 
village by expending large sums of money in the con- 
struction of fine houses. But when he does attempt to 
advance his social status in this way, he does not intro- 
duce foreign art so much as he increases the quantity 
of traditional art forms. 

There is one exception to this characteristic, namely, 
in dress. Those who return carry with them some marks 
of foreign influence in their dress. Such indications 
are not numerous but they exist: the straw hat, sleeves 
cut in new fashion, leather shoes made according to 


278 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


Western patterns, clothes made of imported materials 
decorated with foreign designs, and so on. 


ARTS OF MUSIC 


Music is ordinarily of incidental importance and rises 
into prominence in village life during the periods preced- 
ing village ceremonies. As described in connection with 
the Associations, the cultivation of musical interest and 
ability is brought about by the special training of a 
group of young persons to perform in the annual religious 
procession. 

The boys also learn the songs popularly used on the 
stage. When the period of preparation arrives, the 
young people get much fun out of the musical efforts. 
Generally, however, musical expression upon instrument 
or in song is individualistic. People enjoy themselves 
by singing or playing alone. Only in the schools are 
the children beginning to learn to sing in unison. Group 
or choral music is unknown in Phenix Village. 


STORY-TELLING 


Although the schools of the village have been in- 
efficient in training for life needs, they have turned out 
pupils able to read and write. With these tools at their 
disposal, the men have continued to educate themselves. 
They read business letters, public notices, popular 
novels and drama. The scholars read mainly history 
and the classics of ancient China. There are volumes of 
stories, popular dramas of a historical nature, popular 
poetry to be found in the homes, in temples and in the 
shops of the market. Among all the printed books of 
the village at the present time, the almanac is the most 
important. (Compare pages 186f.) This contains, 


ART AND RECREATION 279 


as already noted, details of each day in the year: its 
date and place in the calendar; its name and significance 
for religious purposes. In fact, this almanac is the guide 
of life and village practice is conducted upon the basis 
of legend, myth and fact that it contains. It is a repos- 
itory of practical astrology and, as such, is carefully 
read by all the literate women. In addition to the 
transmission of traditional practices and attitudes by 
the imitation of ceremonial forms and ritual, by school 
training, and by folklore, the almanac represents the 
formal and recorded aspects of village culture. In that 
sense, it may be thought of as the village textbook 
in science. 

The women lack formal education; only a few can 
read. It is natural, therefore, that the few! who are 
fortunate enough to be able to read are in great demand 
as readers. The women like to gather in a reading 
circle and listen to one of their number “‘sing’’ ballads. 
These ballads are in simple and rhythmic popular lan- 
guage, especially designed for women to read or sing. 

This form of literature exercises a powerful control 
over the minds of the women and girls. It is interesting 
because it is full of popular stories which are frequently 
dramatized on the village stage. From these stories 
the women derive their knowledge of the life and customs 
of the past and of other parts of China. The ballads 
do not adhere strictly to historical accuracy but are 
aimed rather, so far as any utility other than recreation 
is concerned, at stimulating the mind and reénforcing 

1 Approximately three to five per cent of all females; 10 to 15 persons out of 
312 women and girls. 

Ross claimed (The Changing Chinese, 1912, p. 145) that ‘“‘not one womanin 
a thousand’’ can read. For men, he gave the figures: ‘“‘not one in ten’’ can read 


(p. 342). Gamble, in Peking, a Social Survey, claimed about fifty per cent 
literacy for men who were Christians and forty per cent for Christian women. 


280 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


the moral ideals of the community advocated for women. 
But the stories are not always of the moral sort. Con- 
sequently, the mothers try to supervise the reading to 
which their girls may go. Cases of moral delinquency 
have occurred where the girls were attempting to identify 
themselves with heroines of stories. Much of the 
suicidal tendency on the part of women is considered 
by village men to come from listening to accounts about 
famous women who cut their ‘‘Gordian knots’’ by this 
method. The stories were written by men, who thereby 
have succeeded in imposing upon women masculine 
concepts of life for women and masculine norms of 
behavior for women. 

The relatively few men of the village who are unable 
to read join with others quite literate in listening to 
the wandering ‘‘minstrels’”’ or ‘‘ballad singers.’’ These 
men drop into public places, such as tea houses or 
opium shops, and tell their tales in dramatic fashion. 
The listeners reward the singers with money; they will 
sit and sip tea and hearken to these tales for hours 
at a time. 

Such tales contrast with those common among women 
in that they cover a wider range of subjects. They are 
more free and less didactic. They may be classified 
roughly into three types: news stories about happenings, 
transmitted orally in this way instead of through news- 
papers; stories taken from history and embellished 
with imaginative additions; myths, legends, fairy tales 
of deviltry and magic. There is no limit set upon them 
except by the imagination of the singer. Examples of 
such tales may be found in Giles’ translation of the 
stories of P’u Sung-ling under the title, Strange Stories 
from a Chinese Studio. 


1 Kelley and Walsh, Ltd. Shanghai: 1916. 


ART AND RECREATION 281 


Many of these stories are coarse and vulgar. They 
vary in length from those that can be related in a few 
moments to those that take hours for the telling. This 
constant recounting of folklore under conditions where 
dramatic recital secures increased patronage, support 
and reward, creates an insistent demand for exciting 
embellishments without respect for truth, and develops 
a body of romance that reénforces superstitions based 
on ignorance. Sometimes these romancers accompany 
their recitals with the violin. Then they add to the 
tone of their voices and the expression of their faces 
the emotional qualities and dramatic contrasts possible 
on such a musical instrument. Many of these singing 
romancers have unusual dramatic powers and by the 
subtle effects of gesture and intonation create an art 
quite distinctive and thoroughly enjoyed by the people. 
The wild imaginative creations absorbed by the villagers 
with intense concentration suggest that these esthetic 
interests provide a form of release from the otherwise 
dull monotony of rural village life. 


FORMS OF RECREATION 


Besides the recreative values to be found in these 
various forms of art, there are many kinds of recreation 
in which young and old engage. Traditionally, play is 
taboo, but practically, it is allowed for children and 
engaged in by adults. Not all forms of play are equally 
good but none are punishable, not even those kinds 
tacitly disapproved of by the better members of the 


community because of their bad effects. 


Following is a list of the forms of recreation engaged 
in by children (girls’ games are starred”): 
The more active forms of play are: Swimming, running 


races, wrestling and boxing, hopping and skipping”, 


| 


* 


282 COUNTRY “LIFE IN SOUTH#CH Ig 


rowing boats, frog race, catch the monkey, foot and 
inch or ‘‘striking the ear,’’ shuttlecock*, throwing a 
ball*, blind man’s buff*, rolling a coin, flying kites, 
archery (very rare). 

The less strenuous forms are: Fishing, fish fighting, 


‘cricket fighting, hunting in a minor way, marbles, 


keeping domestic animals, catching frogs, catching wild 
bees, wasps and insects, imitating activities of adults or 
of theatrical performances, practicing music, reading 
stories or novels, singing dramatic songs, making and 
using whistles, telling and listening to stories, feasting, 
watching theatrical performances, gambling, calling 
to spirits or ghosts (particularly during the Chinese 
eighth month when spirits are supposed to be subject 
to call), jacks”. 

The adult forms of recreation are: Fishing, hunting, 
boxing, gambling, feasting, attending theatrical_ per- 
formances, playing musical instruments and singing, 
reading stories and novels, listening to stories and 
novels, telling stories, smoking (tobacco and opium), 
gossip and debate, idling. 

There is no such thing as a playground in the village, 
but an open field now used by School B as a drill ground 
could easily be made into one. Play is endured, not pro- 
moted, so there is no supervision or training in it. The 
formal physical drill imported from the West via the 
provincial normal school lacks play possibilities. It 
is neither good military tactics nor good physical exer- 
cise. It furnishes an example of the deterioration of a 
culture-trait when the incidence of absorption is several 
times removed from the point of primary contact. 

The forms of recreation for women are very few. 
The women watch theatricals, listen to readings, music, 
watch the religious processions or participate in other 


ART AND RECREATION - 283 


ceremonies that provide a recreative aspect because of 
their infrequency, such as weddings, funerals, ancestral 
worship, and the like. They also embroider, occasionally 
paint, but generally gossip. In the larger homes, some 
of the women care for flowers, water-lilies and gold- 
fish. Time hangs heavily on their hands. 

The greatest single improvement in village recreation 
that could be introduced would be radio, but broad- 
casting is not yet established in Swatow. 


CHAPTER Tro. 


RELIGION AND THE SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY 


In order to understand and appreciate the religious 
practices of the people in Phenix Village, it is necessary 
to remember that the village community is really a 
plurality of communities: the spiritual community made 
up in turn of two communities—the natural community 
embodying myriads of spirits in natural objects; the 
human community composed of the spirits of departed 
ancestors and of ancient folk heroes, deified after death; 
and finally, the community of persons now living in the 
village. The members of the spiritual communities 
are deemed to be able to control the fortunes of the 
living. The central problem of life is to be solved by 
merging these several communities into a harmonious 
whole. The individual person not only has to fit him- 
self into customs and institutions of the living but must 
adjust himself to the needs of the members of the spiritual 
community in order to remain en rapport with them so 
as to win the happiness he longs for. 


ANIMISM 


Animistic ceremonies while simple are universally 
practiced. Every tree, house, fence, door, field—natural 
objects of all sorts—are believed to be the dwelling place 
of a spirit. Inanimate as well as animate objects are 
so conceived. One is not surprised, therefore, in walking 
through the fruit orchards to see the farmer burning. 
paper at the foot of a pomelo tree, or to notice pieces. 
of half-burned paper hanging from a fence or a door of | 


i 
) 


RELIGION AND SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY 285 


a house. Whenever, for some reason or other, the per- 
son thinks a spirit might be offended, he burns red 
paper on which are written characters expressing a prayer 
or offering appeasement. The farmer takes no chances 
on offending the spirits of the trees in his orchards. If 
the trees do not bear well, then it is because their spirits 
have been offended; they withhold their aid and the 
farmer suffers loss. 

The boatmen believe in a spirit of the river, of the 
rocks, of the mountains, of the clouds, of the rain, of 
the wind. When the wind fails to fill their sails, they 
call to it in a weird plaintive cry to come again. De- 
structive floods are angry spirits wreaking vengeance 
because of neglect by humans. At Chinese New Year 
time, the boatmen have the custom of pasting bits of 
red paper inscribed with characters on all parts of the 
boat and on all their implements, their poles, their 
ropes, and so on, firm in the belief that such magic 
practices will make the resident spirits favorable to them. 

All the ordinary folk who in the pursuit of their oc- 
cupations live close to nature and depend upon its 
whims and fancies believe thoroughly in these super- 
stitions and scrupulously observe magical performances. 
The scholars do not openly scoff at these things, but they 
rarely are so credulous in these matters though super- 
stitious in other ways. 

Out of animism has grown up the complex of atti- 
tudes and values known as necromancy or the control 
of the spirits of wind and water—feng shui. The whole 
of Chinese magic is summed up in these two words. 
So highly developed are the formulas of operation and 
the technics of discovery of the will of the spirits that 
a special profession is essential. The village supports 
one man whose sole business is to reveal the will of 


286 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


spirits toward any particular project or deed that a 
person may contemplate if it is of unusual importance. 
There seems to be no differentiation between fate and 
the will of the spirits. The fortune-teller charges fees 
for his divining and enjoys a monopoly in the knowledge 
of necromancy. 

Thus, if you wish to use a piece of land, you must 
first discover by the aid of the necromancer whether 
such an act would offend or please the spirits that dwell 
there. A grave on the hillsides must be determined by 
divination; the date for marriage, the opening of a 
shop, the location of a new house must be approved by 
the ‘‘medicine-man.”’ Furthermore, when the details 
of a project are fixed in a favorable manner, the necro- 
mancer will determine whether or not it is necessary 
to worship. The people conceive that the multitudes 
of lesser spirits, spectres, or gnomes are under the 
hierarchical control of major spirits and gods. By wor- 
shipping these, the lesser will not be able to interfere. 
In breaking ground for a building, a grave or a culti- 
vated field, the ‘“‘doctor’”’ is often called upon to worship 
these major beings and insure successful outcome of 
the client. But there is always a fee for the professional 
service. 

These doctors sometimes claim unusual authority 
by asserting their discipleship to some one of the “‘head”’ 
gods. As they build up the prestige of their “‘chief,”’ 
their own prestige is increased and they are more in 
demand because they can guarantee better protection. 
Also when the gods have been offended, the doctors 
are better able in the ceremonies of burning ‘‘ paper 
money,’ inscribed paper, or in sacrificing, to appease them. 

In addition to necromancy or the determination of 
the will of spirits with reference to specific objectives, 


RELIGION AND SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY 287 


there is fortune-telling in a general way. People want 
to know whether there is happiness or bitterness in 
store for them. The prophet has his own god to worship. 
He not only tells people what their future will be but 
also prays to his god that their evil fortunes may be 
turned aside from them. To this end he offers sacrifice 
and performs the ceremony. Inasmuch as he alone 
can gain the favor of his professional god, the people 
are quite ready to pay what he asks for this service. 
He strengthens his position by exploiting the religious 
faith of the people; in all his statements he includes 
numerous phrases that, for the people, are fraught with 
religious faith and authority. He renders both a pre- 
ventive and an ameliorative service to the community. 

The exploitative character of these professions is quite 
apparent and yet they perform a valuable social func- 
tion. In view of the ignorance of the people of natural 
phenomena and the modes of explaining natural events, 
they become enmeshed in psychic tensions which secure 
release through the services of the necromancer or 
fortune-teller. That their beliefs are erroneous makes 
no difference. Their uncertainties disappear and their 
faith strengthens their hands. Mental conflicts arising 
out of the doubts of life are resolved by the aid of these 
‘“‘doctors’’ who really practice crudely a form of psy- 
chotherapy. So long as ignorance is prevalent, the com- 
munity needs these men as preservers of mental health. 


SPIRITISM 


Spiritism is also prevalent in the village. The people 
believe the dead can be induced to communicate with 
the living by the help of some of the gods they wor- 
ship. There are two kinds of spiritists; the one is pro- 
fessional, the other, temporary. 


288 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 





The professional spiritist may be a man or a woman 
with an office in a definite place where his gods are on 
exhibition. People go there whenever they wish to 
consult their dead kin. They first worship the gods and 
then pray to those with whom they would like to 
converse. The expert spiritist discovers the location 
of the desired spirit and readily induces it to come. All 
of the talking by the spirit is done through the medium, 
who charges a fee for his assistance. 

The temporary spiritist is usually some boy or girl 
who is thought to possess strange powers. The child 
must be placed in the midst of the adults. He must 
close his eyes and sit in a solemn manner. The others, 
holding burning incense in their hands, chant a song 
to induce the spirit to come. Sometimes paper with 
a charm written upon it is burned to hasten the ap- 
proach of the spirit. The people know when the spirit 
has arrived by the fact that the child quickly changes 
his posture and assumes characteristics known to be 
possessed by the person sought for when he was alive. 
The child then talks of matters pertaining to the other 
world and of the affairs left unfinished when death 
called the person away. Sometimes light is thrown on 
doubtful matters, but this may be accounted for by 
coincidence and suggestion. However, the people seek- 
ing the information are quite credulous and shape their 
course of action according to the words of the medium. 

The resemblance between this performance and 
shamanism as found in Siberia is very interesting.! — 

1Czaplicka, M. A. Aboriginal Siberia. Oxford: 1914. pp. 169 ff. 

Shirokogoroff, S. M. General Theory of Shamanism Among the Tungus. 
Vladivostock: 1919. (In Russian.) The concluding chapter of this essay has 
been translated into English by the author and myself and, during the year 


1923, published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, North China Branch, 
Shanghai. 


RELIGION AND SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY 289 


Information is not at hand to show whether there is 
any historical connection of this culture-trait with 
Siberia, nor is it possible to elucidate the causes of the 
phenomena, beyond the hypothesis that partial or 
complete hypnosis is produced. The conditions set up 
in the seance approximate closely those suggested by 
Sidis for hypnosis.! 


VILLAGE TEMPLES 


The strictly religious practices of the village, by which 
people adjust themselves to that part of the spiritual 
community composed of the particular gods and spirits 
that control Phenix Village and the surrounding territory, 
are performed in the local temples. They are neither 
Buddhist, nor Taoist, nor Confucian, but a sort of mixture 
of all of these and of a natural religion—animism 
and spiritism. 

There are three such temples, two are marked on the 
Local, Map. of the Village as B and C. The third is 
graphed but is “not designated because it has been aban- 
doned for some time. C is shared with surrounding 
villages, while B is used exclusively by the people of 
Phenix Village. Therefore, a description and analysis 
will be made of only Temple B, within the village and 
near the bank of the Phenix River. 

The temple is not large—about twenty by thirty 
feet in area and about fifteen feet at the eaves and 

1Sidis, B. The Psychology of Suggestion. 1921. p. 49. 

‘*To make a synopsis of the conditions of hypnosis, or, what is the same, 
of abnormal suggestibility: 

I. Fixation of attention. 

2. Distraction of attention. 

. Monotony. 
. Limitation of voluntary movements. 
. Limitation of the field of consciousness. 


. Inhibition. 
. Immediate execution.”’ 


ran hw 


290 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 





twenty-three feet up to the ridge of the roof. There 
is but one entrance (Illustration XVI) which faces 
west. In front of this is a stone receptacle about two 
feet high in which worshippers thrust several sticks of 
burning incense as they approach. Over the door hangs 
the name of the temple, Fu Ling Gu Miao, or Ancient 
Temple of the Blessed Soul. (E, Figure 8.) 





Thrones 


ia 
AN ry 
oh 
GUU 


Bench 





ee 


On Kulp Ek 


VILLAGE * TEMPLE 


INCENSE Tray I CANOLE FRAME 
©) O11 Lame @ ‘Bei’ 


FIG. 8. FLOOR PLAN OF VILLAGE TEMPLE 


On the lintel are carved two circular designs which 
are painted to exemplify a fundamental religious and 
philosophical notion of beginning and eternal becoming. 


RELIGION AND SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY 291 


The three colors all emerge from one center and spirally 
expand to the circumference, from which one’s imag- 
ination may lead him out to the inclusion of all space. 
Beside both doorposts hang small bamboo containers. 
The worshipper inserts burning incense sticks in honor 
of the two military heroes painted on the doors to guard 
the temple and the gods within from the attacks of 
evil demons. (Illustration XVI.) 

The appearance of the interior of the temple is shown 
by the floor plan in Figure 8. 

There are no windows so that the only light comes 
through the main entrance. As the visitor’s eyes become 
accustomed to the gloom, he gradually discerns the 
furniture, the images, and the characters hung up in 
various places. In the figure the locations of the images 
and gods are indicated by numbers, while the sayings 
are given letters for identification. 

Inside the main entrance and directly over it in 
horizontal arrangement is the following (D): 


The myriads of spirits are greatly blessed. 


Four pillars support the roof. Vertically, on the two 
forward ones, hang the following dui-dz or ‘‘matched 
sayings’ (CC): 

Guard the people with thy blessing, 
And all will welcome happiness. 


Thy spirit shine forever, 
And forever will thy soul be held as pure. 


_ Each saying has the same number of characters, 
namely, ten. Each is divided into two parts, the first 
‘of four characters and the second of six. The first 
character of the one on the right, looking in from the 
-entrance, begins with the first character in the name 
of the temple, Fuh, happiness or blessing. The cor- 


292 COUNTRY’ CIFE IN SOUTH GCEiive: 


responding word of the opposite saying is Ling, soul 
or spirit, the second word in the name of the temple. 
The last or tenth character of each is the same as the 
first of each. A literal translation may illustrate the 
balance, parallelism, and contrast: 


Fortune guard ten thousand persons; 
Person [by] person will find great fortune. 


[Thy] spirit shine one thousand generations; 
Generation [after] generation will name [a] pure spirit. 


In small characters in the lower corner of the plaque 

on the right is: ‘‘Established on a lucky day 7 
. . in the reign of Tsien Lung, 

On the left is: aeasebrully dedicated by Wu Chane by, 

and his son, Yu-kung.”’ 

The point of historical interest here is that after 
the present sib had moved to Phenix Village, there may 
have been still a member of another sib of sufficient 
wealth and importance to build this temple, for the 
name of the founder differs from the sib name of the 
present occupants of the village. The ancestors of the 
present sib moved into the village in the latter part of 
the sixteenth century (see page 68) or approximately 
two hundred years before the temple was dedicated. The 
Wu sib had disappeared but the members of another sib 
now use the temple as exclusively their own. 

Over and around the stage in the rear of the temple, 
runs a piece of embroidered satin on which are the 
characters (B): Gan Tien Da Di, or God of Grace. On 
a large wooden plaque placed above the throne of the 
principal idol are four large characters: ‘‘May divine 
grace engulf thee.’’ On each end of this board written 
vertically are: ‘‘The first year of Hszen Feng, Sep- 
tember’’ (1851); and on the left end, ‘Respectfully 


ee es 


RELIGION AND SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY 293 


dedicated by the members of the community.” This 
dedication refers only to this plaque (A). 

Such are the folk wishes that have been crystallized 
into conventional art forms in this village temple. 

Immediately inside the main entrance is a long bench 
in front of a high table. On this table are the two 
bez or divining instruments. They are made by cutting 
into halves the curved root of a bamboo tree. They 
are flat on one side and round on the other and are used 
in a manner described in detail further on. Behind the 
table is the wooden altar; at both ends are iron frames 
on which burning red candles are put; in the rear center 
is an oblong bronze container filled with the ashes of 
burned incense sticks, and on both sides of this are two 
images (8 and 9); on the left front edge are three bowls 
in which burning incense sticks are placed and to the 
right of these is an oil-lamp,—nothing more than a 
bowl filled with oil into which a wick is loosely placed. 
The lamp is supposed to be kept burning all the time, 
but the keeper of the temple is not exactly faithful to 
his duties. 

Image 8 is the military god, which is an exact transla- 
tion of the village name for him, Wu Dz Yia. Couling? 
thus identifies him: 


KuANn-TI called Kuan Yu and other names, is the Chinese 
Mars, the god of war. He was born in the modern Shansi 
and was a hero of the period of the Three Kingdoms. He 
was a loyal supporter of Lru PEI who became first emperor 
of the Minor Han dynasty. Being taken prisoner by Hsun 
Cu’UAN he was executed in 220 A. D., at the age of 58. 
Posthumous honorific titles were bestowed on him by sev- 
eral emperors, and WAN-Li of the Ming dynasty deified him. 
He has sacrifices on the 15th of the 2nd moon and the 13th 
of the 5th. His temple is called Wu sheng miao, and he is 


1 Encyclopaedia Sinica. London: 1917, p. 280. 


294 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 





to the military what ConFrucius is to the literary classes, 
and in addition he has somehow come to be regarded as a 
god of literature. 


Image 9 is the literary god and corresponds to the 
Minerva and the Muses of ancient Rome. Couling? 
locates him thus: 


WEN TI, the god of literature, also named WEN CH’ANG 
Ti Coun. One of the canonical deities, worshipped officially 
throughout China on the 3rd day of the 2nd moon and on 
an auspicious day of the 8th moon, with sacrifices. He was 
once probably a living man of the T’ang period named 
CHANG, who lived in Ssuch’uan. He is supposed to have 
been re-incarnated many times, and was deified in the 
Yuan dynasty (1314 A. D.). But he is also the inhabitant 
of the constellation Ursa Major, and the part of that con- 
stellation which the Chinese call K’wez is also worshipped as 
god of literature, and in every state temple to WEN TI there 
will also be found a representation of the K’uei star (K’uer 
hsing). . . . These two ideas of the deity are inex- 
tricably mingled. 


Immediately back of the altar a fence connects the 
two rear pillars. This runs up to about five feet in 
height and has three pales missing in the center to allow 
the people to look through at the god without 
hindrance. 

Behind the fence is a stage that butts on the rear 
wall of the temple. It is about three feet from the 
ground and adorned by an embroidered canopy. In 
the center of the stage sits a life-size idol on a decorated 
throne. It was impossible to learn from any of the 
villagers questioned just what the name of the god is. 
When asked, each person would reply, ‘‘ Holy God.” 

To the right of the stage and in the corner is a table 
with small images, 4, 5, 6, and 7. These are called the 


1 Encyclopaedia Sinica, pp. 597 f. 


PLATE X 





XVII. A RELIGIOUS IMAGE FROM THE VILLAGE TEMPLE. HE 
REPRESENTS A DEIFIED WARRIOR NOW ASSIGNED TO THE 
TASK OF GUARDING THE FOLK FROM EVIL SPIRITS 


. _ ae ~ 7 
7 : Pa : Sy 
7 ba a = 7 
> a —s 7 4 
12 ae 
: ie _ 
a? ne 
Ee 
iv S 
— 


LIBRARY 


| Of THE. Sues 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 





a y a _ 2 


RELIGION AND SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY 295 


tu dt or gods of the soil or earth or fields. In front 
of them is an incense tray and an oil-lamp. Before 
the table are two stools upon which worshippers 
kneel. 

In the opposite corner is another table with images 
2 and 3. They are male and female images, the god 
and goddess of horticulture. They correspond to the 
kitchen gods or Dzao-Lao Ye of which there are none 
in the homes of Phenix Village. These Hwa Gung Ma 
are patron gods of the fruit orchards and guarantee 
the prosperity of the families that depend upon fruit- 
growing for their living. The ash-tray, oil-lamp and 
stools are placed similarly to those in the right-hand 
corner. 

Along the left wall is placed a throne adapted for 
carrying the gods in the religious procession. Opposite 
are three others, one large and two smaller chairs. 
A large sheet of red paper with many names written 
on it is pasted on the left wall. The names designate 
the members of the village who are responsible for carry- 
ing the images in the religious procession. The paper 
also serves as a bulletin to inform what people are to 
worship in this temple and at what times. 

In the front right corner is located the bed of the 
keeper or priest. The man can hardly be considered 
a priest, for he wears no special vestments, and yet his 
functions are: caring for the temple, keeping the lamps 
burning, assisting the worshippers, and so on. He is 
a man addicted to opium smoking. Money offerings 
are made by the worshippers and those who secure 
favorable omens in answer to their prayers are generous 
givers. These offerings belong to the attendant who 
no sooner gets a cash or a copper than he hurries off 
to the opium shop. 


296 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


WORSHIP 


In this temple worship is individual. It stands for 
the method of personal adaptation to the other world; 
it represents the individual’s efforts to maintain a 
successful relation with the spiritual community apart 
from the ancestors. The ceremonies are as follows: 
the woman who earnestly wishes for something comes 
to the temple, lights incense and places a. few sticks in 
each receptacle set up for that purpose. *:;This done, 
she sees that the lamps are lighted, but first she will 
make her offering of money. She then goes to the long 
bench and, kneeling, takes up the bez (10), holds them 
together in her two hands, lifts them up and down be- 
fore her, and bows to the god, saying, 


Chiu Lao Ye, gung wuh loh yii. Ts chi shen bei. 


(Pray God, let it not rain. Grant favorable omens!) 


Then she throws the bez on the dirt floor of the temple 

and notes how they fall. She should throw three times 

in all. If they fall in favoring combinations she is 

satisfied and goes out. Otherwise she may continue 

until luck breaks and the omens favor her. Sometimes 

she retires in sorrow when no favorable throw comes. 
The combinations are as follows: 


I. Smooth and round is shen bez and means the 
gods are favorable. () 

2. Smooth and smooth is siao bet and means the 
gods laugh at the prayer. @)) 

3. Round and round is wen bei and means the 
gods refuse to speak one way or the other. @) 


The worshippers always ask for shen bei but shen bei 
does not always come. That is why they throw three 
times. The chances for a successful combination are 


RELIGION AND SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY 297 


greater than in one throw. Gambling with the gods to 
win the heart’s desire is no mag@fer of fun. 

In three throws, I-I- eans the prayer will be 
granted surely. This is most favorable combination 
of any three throws 3-1 would not count, so the 
throws would be r ted. The second best omen is 
the combinatio I-I. I-3-3 means the answer 










Oo not come favorably the first three throws. 
: “Keep on throwing.”’ 

The worshipper addresses her prayer sometimes to 
the chief god only, sometimes to him and then to the 
tu dit or the hwa gung ma, according to whether her 
prayer has to do more with the fruit orchards or the 
soils of the fields. 

These were cited by villagers as common forms of 
prayers: ‘‘Give us rain’’; ‘‘Give us sunshine’’; ‘‘Bless 
our kin that they may not suffer from disease and give 
them safety and security’’; ‘‘May this year’s crop be 
abundant’’; ‘‘Peace to our sons in foreign lands’’; 
and so on. They never pray that female infants may 
be born to them; nor do they ever pray for the injury 
of another. Otherwise their prayers are limited only 
by their experience. 


THE RELIGIOUS PROCESSION 


Mention has been made several times of the annual 
religious procession, for which the boys train in music 
and for which the portable thrones and other parapherna- 
lia are provided in Temple B. A modern scholar from 
this village once described this procession. The essay 


298 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


was printed in a Chinese monthly published in Shanghai 
in 1918. Following is a translation of the article, with 
the omission of irrelevant parts: 


The religious procession is very ancient. In early times 
the custom was followed by all from the emperor down 
to the common people. Such sacrificial processions were 
known as Na Yang, which means paying tribute to God. 
Animals were killed and offered for sacrifice in the belief 
that this would drive away disease, famine, war and win 
blessings from God. The sacrifice was always performed 
by the Fang Siang Sh, a state official specially charged 
with this duty. In the Djou Li it says: “‘ Fang Siang Sh, 
who is protected by bear-skin on which is painted four 
golden eyes, who wears red and scarlet gowns, who holds 
spears and guides the people in driving away evil spirits.”’ 
The custom is surely an old one. 


Through the changes of dynasties many ancient customs 
have been lost, but not this one of the annual religious 
procession. It is held once each spring in my native place. 


In the evening of the appointed day old and young gather 
for a feast. Afterwards, everyone takes a lantern and joins 
the others forming themselves into a ‘‘ding-shaped”’ or a 
‘‘ shan-shaped”’ character, which looks very attractive from 
a distance. 


The lanterns gleam and the candles shine; their light 
is reflected from the gorgeously embroidered banners. All 
add to the glory of this ancient custom. 


Still more interesting is the pride that the young folks 
show in carrying the banners in the procession. Some are 
disguised as clowns, others make up as ladies; still others 
bare their right arms and imitate the swagger of military 
heroes; others mask themselves as ghosts, goblins, demons, 
giants, and so on. With their strange and ugly features 
they furnish laughter for the stolid country folk but not 
for a student.|!] 


Then the folk music: drums, flutes, violins, gongs and so 
on play in concert as the people proceed to the shrine. 


RELIGION AND SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY 299 


Finally the old folks, wearing long-sleeved gowns of ancient 
style, without collars, bring up the procession. They 
have pipes in their mouths and sticks of incense burning 
in their hands. 


The appearance of the god with a red face and white 
mustache is very beautiful and yet awe-inspiring. He 
holds a sword and is clothed with heavy armor. He looks 
like a real person as he sits on his throne. He is carried 
on the shoulders of four newly married persons. Why 
they are selected no one knows exactly unless they think 
that this act will bring prosperity to them. 


Such is the religious procession in a country community 
in China. Candles and torches shine in the front; har- 
monious music follows in the rear; while in the middle are 
the embroidered banners. Young and old join the pro- 
cession. Some run on ahead, others keep looking behind. 
The main streets, the narrow lanes, fields and trenches all 
are filled with the noise of their approach; their songs and 
cheers rise into the air. Even the dogs and chickens are 
made unhappy. And yet the country folks would insist 
that this is the way to win and gain blessings from the 
gods of their community. 


How can one account for the persistence of this ancient 
custom so faithfully performed from year to year? 


This serio-comic performance has become thoroughly 
embedded in this rural village and corresponds to the 
country fairs and festivals and picnics among the farmers 
of the United States. It is expressive behavior and 
affords catharsis for the psychic tensions of village 
monotony which arises out of the cultural limitations of 
the people. 


ANCESTRAL WORSHIP 


As already noted, there are three ancestral halls in 
which the worship of early ancestors is carried on. 
The oldest or main hall in front of the pool (D on the 


300 COUNTRY (LIFE IN SOUTH CHinw 


Local Map of the Village) is more of an ancestral home 
and is now used as a residence (Illustration XV). All 
the people in the village owe allegiance to it; the land 
in connection with it is public land that does not rotate. 
When the rites of ancestral worship are held in it, the 
whole sib is joined in one great religious family. 

Formerly, some sons divided into two groups and 
built the large ancestral halls marked E and F on the 
map. ‘These are real ancestral halls and no families 
reside in them. They now house the schools A and B, 
respectively, and the teacher of each is allowed to live 
in a corner room. Otherwise the buildings are reserved 
for the exclusive performance of ancestral worship 
by the descendants of the two groups. 

Finally, in each ancestral home, rites are performed 
for the more immediate ancestors in the hall of the 
house. (See Figure 5.) Small houses may have a few 
tablets of grandparents which they worship on their 
birthdays. 

The sib on its religious side is a number of religious- 
families of different sizes at different times. The mem- 
bers are always included in a particular religious-group 
on the basis of lineage from the ancestor to be worshipped. 
How many people will be included depends upon how 
far back the people will go to select an ancestor to be 
worshipped. The more usual groups are now the two 
great religious-groups that worship in Halls E and F, 
and the groups in the ancestral homes; about once a 
year the village leaders hold worship in the Main Hall 
D, which is for all; but meanwhile individuals may 
worship at numerous times, just as in the hall of their 
ancestral homes. 

Worship is also held at the graves at least once a year. 
The large, wealthy religious-families choose a favorable 


RELIGION AND SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY 301 


day in May, when they may spend as much as $200 on 
such worship. The poor families visit the graves on 
the Tsing Ming festival and worship simply by burning 
silver paper, offering a few dishes of food and setting 
off firecrackers. Among the large families the main 
feature is the feast that is spread on the hillside before 
the grave. Thus it is quite a sight to see several hun- 
dreds of people participating in these performances, 
which are a sort of religious picnic, but reserved for 
males only. 


PRIVATE CEREMONIES 


Because private ceremonies are more numerous than 
the public forms, they will be described first. Altogether 
there are thirteen definite times for worship. They are 
listed here with the special features of each worship: 


I. First of the New Year—only vegetables with oil 
may be sacrificed. 

2. Second of the New Year—meat and vegetables 
cut into small pieces with lard. 

3. Fifteenth of first moon—three dishes, large piece 
of pork, a whole chicken and a whole fish. 

4. Tsing Ming Festival, the third moon—anything. 

5. Holiday of the fifth moon—a piece of pork, sweets, 
LC. 

6. Fifteenth of the seventh moon—anything. 

7. Fifteenth of the eighth moon—pork and ‘‘moon” 
cakes. 

8. Winter holiday of the eleventh moon—pork and 
sweets. 

9g. Last day of the old year—fish, chicken and pork. 

10, 11, 12 and 13. Birthdays of father, grandfather, 
mother and grandmother. 


302 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


On these days the ceremonies are performed by the 
chia-chang, who is assisted by the boys of the small 
religious-group. Either of the tables 1 or 3 (See Figure 
5, page 153) may be used. If table I is used, it is placed 
in the center of the hall. On it the women put a cup of 
tea, a cup of wine, a bowl of rice, chopsticks, bowls of 
food according to the customs listed above, unlighted 
candles and incense trays. 
When the men have all [cS] 7aseer 
assembled, the chia-chang . 
takes down from the cab- fed Cae 


inet (2) the ancestral tablet ca Chapstichs 


Frice 


of the person to be wor- 


shipped and places it on a) CD Ca) ) 


the table as shown in Fig- Food 
ure 9. The chia-chang then  |¢,, wel) pa Dees 
lights the candles and sticks 

: r Incense 
of incense which he puts 
in the tray, kneels on the FIG. 9. ARRANGEMENT OF 
floor and bows three times vanmeaiaiy tes) 

ahs ‘ F badge IN HOME WORSHIP 
striking his head each time 
against the floor. If he does not strike his head he must 
bow four times. Incase the chia-chang should be absent 
when such rites are performed, any males may do these 
things. Afterward the food is eaten. At these same 
times and in the same ways, males may worship in the 


Main Hall D. 





PUBLIC CEREMONIES 


In Halls E and F, worship is held once a year and is 
rather elaborate. In general, the village leaders admin- 
ister the rites in Hall F. First come the male chia-chang 
and his male descendants. When the sacrifices have 


been set out on the tables, the paintings of the ancestors | 


t 


RELIGION AND SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY 303 


Cabinet 


Open Court 





FIG. 10. FLOOR PLAN OF ANCESTRAL TEMPLE 


hung on the rear wall, then firecrackers are set off and the 
music starts up, after which the master of ceremonies 
calls out the names of the persons in order of lineage 


304 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 
and status in the religious-group. First he calls the 
master of ceremonies who goes forward and bows and 
then the others who, in turn, go forward. The master 
of ceremonies worships by taking the cork out of a 
bottle of wine, pouring it into a cup and offering it, 
after which he bows three times. When there are 
many males participating, after the principal people 
have individually made their bows the master of cere- 
monies will call out and all the others together will 
bow toward the cabinet and the sacrifices. Afterward 
there is a great feast. 

The materials for the sacrifices and the feast are 
supplied by the chia-chang who is in charge of the 
properties connected with the hall. A fine is imposed 
if the duties are not properly performed. The family 
on duty has to prepare cakes, fruit and candies as 
described in the almanac. These are distributed to 
the various economic-groups according to the number 
of males, whether boys or men, on an equal basis. All 
the participants share alike in the enjoyment of the 
sacrificial food. 

It would be interesting to study this feature further 
in order to discover whether or not there is any mystical 
potency thought to be in the food after it has been 
offered for sacrifice or whether it is practical parsimony 
to consume the food. Doubtless both are there, together 
with the conviviality that attends a feast, provid- 
ing religious sanction for social and recreational 
activities. 

It was possible to make a detailed analysis of the 
ceremonies carried on traditionally in the small Ancestra_ 
Hall E. Certain phases of these ceremonies throw some 
light on the magical characters involved as can be seer 
by a reading of the following procedures: 





RELIGION AND SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY 305 


1. The office of master of ceremonies rotates among the head men 
of the economic and smaller religious families that make up this 
sib moiety or large religious family. 

2. Ceremonies begin by setting off firecrackers to scare away evil 
spirits. 

3. Music. 

4. A man is assigned to the task of calling the names. He asks 
a man to lead the master of ceremonies to wash his face. Then the 
usher hands a bottle of wine to the master, who pulls the cork, 
pours out a cupful, and places the cup on the table before the cabinet. 

5. The announcer calls the roll for worship. The chairman comes 
forward first and bows three times and then the others in unison 
bow three times. 

6. At another call from the announcer, the usher hands dishes 
of food to the master who places them on the table in the proper 
places. (See Figure 10.) 

7. Another call and the usher hands a bowl of pig’s blood mixed 
with goat’s blood to which is added a mixture of lamb’s hair and 
pig’s bristles and one blade of grass. This the master pours out 
on the floor in front of the cabinet. (Tradition has it that in olden 
times the people drank this blood because they were accustomed 
to eat things raw.) 

8. Another call and two whole pigs and two whole goats are 
placed before the cabinet in sacrificial offering. 

g. The announcer calls again: a man then reads in the local 
dialect, not in literary language, the words of worship written on a 
long strip of red paper. (These may be any sort of felicitous charac- 
ters or auspicious words previously prepared by the scholar, or they 
may be a direct prayer for the health and prosperity of the ones 
represented), more houses, lands, good crops, long life, and sons. 
Then he burns the paper. 

10. Next they burn paper money in the corner of the open court. 

11. All bow toward the tablets, proceeding in order of rank ac- 
cording to age and kinship. 

12. One man represents the ancestors and speaks words of advice 
to the descendants. 

13. The scholars and old men divide the pigs and goats on the 
basis of the principles already mentioned. The different familist 
‘groups then take these portions to their homes where they enjoy 
feasts. 


: 
' 


306 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


The fundamental notions of ancestral worship are 
these: 


(a) The immortality of the departed spirit. 

(6) The spirits live on in the other world as they did 
in this and so need the things for existence there that 
they used here. 

(c) The spirits depend upon living descendants for 
their necessities. 

(d) Spirits can control human affairs according to 
their pleasure. 

(e) If the descendants do not supply the necessities 
the spirits become angry and wreak vengeance upon 
the living by sending misfortune. 

(f) The living must carefully perform those rites 
that provide the spirits with their necessities, then 
happiness and prosperity may be achieved. 

(g) The honor and respect which is accorded the 
dead persons before their departure, must be continued. 

(h) It is only a step for the aged members of the 
familist group from this life to the next. At any mo- 
ment they may be powerful spirits. Persons must, 
therefore, be filial toward them in every way. 

(t) Worship of the dead involves duties to one’s 
elders who are alive. 

(7) The elders enjoy prestige with religious sanction, 
which gives them favored position and power in the 
community. 


From the sociological point of view, all this simply 
makes clear that in the course of time old men built 
up the customs and regulations and practices of worship 
that reénforced their own status. Historically, the 
village community has been controlled by old men for 
old men; but their day is passing. 


RELIGION AND SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY 307 


RELIGIOUS ATTITUDES 


Sufficient data have been presented to show that 
religion colors every aspect of life in Phenix Village. 
The living person must constantly be alert if he would 
refrain from injuring or offending the hosts of spirits all 
about him. He consumes much time and money in con- 
stant effort to maintain a harmonious participation in 
his plurality of communities: the living, the departed 
ancestral spirits, and the spirits of nature that work 
their will through the operation of natural forces. 
Each of_these communities are equally real. Out of 
all his religious practices he wins satisfaction for his 
wish for security and achieves a sense of solidarity with 
his folk, natural, human, living, departed, present or 
historical. To break with these communities, to refuse 
to conform to the customary demands made upon 
one by the mystical members of the communities was 
a thing unheard of until the introduction of Christianity 
and modern science. 

Thus all matters, projects, plans, behavior of every 
kind are measured by community norms first founded 
in favor of the family, its head, and back of all, its 
spiritual head or departed ancestor. What these norms 
are and how they grew up can be seen in the ancestral 
worship and in the filial duties of everyday life. The 
wise sayings of a powerful and learned chia-chang, after 
his death, are repeated and transmitted from genera- 
tion to generation, providing fixed norms and schema- 
tized behavior patterns for the living. Out of the 
mystical assumptions of the living, the sanctions of 
the dead become powerful means of control of the 
conduct of the living. Attention centers on ancestors 
and not descendants; the look of the community is 
backward and not forward in any mundane sense; con- 


308 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


tinuity, conservatism, traditionalism, institutionalism, 
familism are the great societal values. The individual 
person is of value only as he, while living, enhances and 
defends these values. Human prosperity is worth while 
only as it makes possible the happiness of the spirits, 
who, in turn, can produce human prosperity. There 
is an interaction between the human and the spiritual 
that creates a fundamental interdependence of the two 
and places religion at the center of all familist practice. 
That these attitudes are based on error makes no 
difference sociologically. They motivate behavior and 
illustrate how in human conduct the notions that people 
hold in their minds about themselves and the rdles 
they play in various groups are the real and immediate 
determiners of action. The man participating in an- 
cestral worship is constantly projecting “himself into 
the future world; he sees himself in the situations and 
conditions that he believes his departed ancestors are 
now in; he also sees himself in relation to the living 
descendants who later will be called upon to worship 
him; the guaranteeing of that status in the future 
life is his central problem. Out of this objective has 
developed the whole complex of familicentrism. That 
is why religion is not individual and personal religion 
so much as it is collective and group religion. Indi- 
viduals pray not for themselves but for their families. 
The culture complex of religion in Phenix Village is 
made up of attitudes, values and practices of all the 
various religious systems to be found in China. Until 
Christianity was introduced, there was no sectarianism 
whatever in the village. The same person followed 
animistic practices, spiritist seances, Buddhist adherence, © 
Taoist customs and Confucian standards; but the . 
important thing to note is that there were no sectarian 


RELIGION AND SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY 309 


adherents who marked themselves off from other religious- 
groups and refused to follow certain practices as not 
belonging to their religion. The essence of sectarianism 
is the refusal to compromise. Strictly speaking, the 
sects exist but not in any practical way in Phenix 
Village. There isno Buddhist, nor Taoist, nor Confucian 
temple. For the laity, then, religion is a mingling of 
the practices of all these religions together with the 
familist religion of ancestral worship. 

Lacking the knowledge to criticize any of the religions, 
the ordinary person frankly believes whatever religious 
faiths he encounters. The scholars of the village are 
sceptic about Buddhism and Taoism but they do not 
interfere with the people in following Buddhist or 
Taoist practices. The scholars are the advocates of 
Confucianism. They keep quoting Confucius or his 
disciple Mencius until gradually the norms of conduct 
that the great sage enunciated seep down to the last 
man or woman in the village. So it is that the people 
believe in animism and worship the spirits of objects 
of nature. They have strong faith in the Buddhas, 
for they practice Buddhist customs and contribute 
money to erect Buddhist temples; they follow Taoism, 
for they call upon the Taoist priest of the region to 
perform ceremonies for the dead, use Taoist charms for 
protection against demons, and on certain days observe 
vegetarian diets. Lastly, they proudly refer to the 
teachings of Confucius as moral standards for familist 
practice and close every debate by quotations from his 
classics as to what is proper. 


EFFECT OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 


Christianity has come into the village and now 
claims ten converts. It calls upon its adherents to break 


310 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


with all these religious practices and even condemns 
ancestral worship. It is uncompromising and so sec- 
tarian in the highest degree. It has injected into this 
rural village community a set of dysgenic forces that 
have already broken loose several economic-families 
from religious familist alignments. It does not inter- 
fere directly with any other phase of life in the village 
save the religious groupings and practices. But such 
a contention is factual, for all phases of life in the village 
are so inextricably bound together that the disjointing 
of any one aspect throws a heavy strain yu every 
part of the social organization. 

There is little wonder, therefore, that the leaders 
oppose the religion of the “foreign devils.”’ It threatens 
the destruction of their whole social system and aims 
to substitute individualism for familism. This fact is 
clearly recognized by the intelligent leaders of the 
village who refer to Christianity as the ‘‘ancestor- 
destruction sect.’’ One leader called upon his sib mates 
to defend their own system and said, ‘‘Do not let the 
crow build its nest on the roof of your house.’’ Chris- 
tianity has nested on the roofs of several of the houses, 
but the people in them, with but a few exceptions, have 
simply added another set of religious attitudes and 
values to those they already have. 

At the present time the formal and regular activities 
of the Christian missionaries have ceased in Phenix 
Village. One of the smaller ancestral homes near the 
market was rented as a church and in that building 
were held regular Christian services and classes in 
religious education on Sunday and a regular school 
during the week. An inadequate response on the part 
of the villagers led the missionaries to withdraw. And 
yet one of their converts is now in training as a religious 


RELIGION AND SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY 311 


leader in the Christian church. He is steeped in the 
methods of modern natural and social science and is 
planning to undertake a leadership in the Swatow region 
that may eventually effect radical changes not only in 
the native religions but also in the philosophy and 
technic of the Christian religion as well. This man has 
»such unusual intellectual capacity, such deep knowledge 
‘of the classics, such training in modern scientific technic 
_that it would be interesting and exceedingly valuable 
‘for modern sociology and missions in China to see 
what he could do in experimental work with his own 
village community by way of improvement. The diff- 
culty will be to get him to work there. 


VILLAGE PHILOSOPHY 


Part of the philosophy of the people of Phenix Village 
has been illustrated by their notions of religion and 
ancestor worship. Briefly, opinion is shaped and action 
undertaken according to whether they will please the 
gods they worship or glorify their ancestors. Fate rules 
all. The people do not entirely subscribe to a laissez- 
faire social policy for they think that collective action 
in worship and ceremony will either control the gods 
and so their own future well-being or ameliorate their 
condition by changing the mood of the gods. They con- 
stantly alternate from fatalistic laissez-faire-ism to a 
practical magic. They manipulate charms, mutter 
formulas, spread mystic characters to the winds, wear 
amulets and in all sorts of ways try to control their 
environment to meet their wishes, as best they can. 
But when all their effort, individual and collective, 
fails, when floods come in spite of prayers and death 
carries off their kin, worship notwithstanding, then 
they acquiesce and call it Ming or Fate. 


312 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


PHILOSOPHICAL DUALISM 


All their philosophical notions are fundamentally 
dualistic. This dualism not only characterizes their 
philosophy but is seen in the antithesis of literary style, 
in balance and proportion of architecture, and in the 
simple contrasts involved in their ideas of the beginnings 
and evolution of things. All this is summed up in the 
yang-ying and ba-gwa concepts and geometricized in 
the ubiquitous Mystic Symbol. (See Frontispiece.) 

The interior portion of this symbol rises from a single 
point, the center, spreads and expands into two parts, 
where the original unity has been split, representing 
fundamental contrasts of nature, male and female, 
light and dark, good and bad. The outer lines of these 
two portions merge into a circumference which represents 
an unending circle, meaning eternity from beginning. 

The two portions are distinguished by painting one 
black with a white dot and one white with a black dot. 
They both interfold in their spiral expansion in close 
intimacy. These are taken as symbols of the union of 
male and female life principles from which comes birth 
of new beings and which correspond to the philosophical 
notion of becoming. That is why the symbol is found 
on the doors of homes where male and female unite 
in the intimacy of procreation that carries on the 
stream of life and ever widens the line of descendants. 
Among the illiterate the loftier concepts of a philosoph- 
ical or pseudo-scientific nature descend into crude sex 
symbolism. 

Around the central portion, representing the dualism 
of all nature, is placed the ba-gwa or eight diagrams, 
These are very ancient, being attributed to the mythical 
hero Fu Hsz (B. C. 2852). The whole of the IJ Ching, 


RELIGION AND SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY 313 


or Book of Changes, is devoted to the exposition of the 
meaning of these combinations of solid and broken 
lines. The theory is that these represent an early form 
of language writing which was later taken over by 
classical philosophy as a medium of representation. 

The theory of evolution is stated as follows: the 
form—a dot—is created by the formless. From the 
form there is then generated two parts, Yang and 
Ying. ‘The former was represented by a long line and 
the latter by two short ones. These two are then placed 
in four combinations, representing the Great Yang and 
Great Ying and the Small Yang and the Small Yzng. 
By again combining these, the eight diagrams are 
secured. They are always placed in the order shown in 
the figure referred to and mean Heaven, Earth, Water, 
Fire, Moisture, Wind, Thunder, and Hill. There is thus 
a close affinity between these geometrical designs and 
the animistic conceptions previously mentioned. 

When these eight diagrams are arranged in a circle 
they form a talisman that brings good fortune to the 
home on whose door they are placed. They also rep- 
resent the evolution of nature and the cyclical changes 
of nature. The diagrams are the basis of all divination 
practices and are taken to reveal the decrees of fate.! 

The symbol of good luck is a very common one and 
is found in Phenix Village in various forms: sometimes 
simply the eight diagrams without the central dualist 
symbol; sometimes only this interior part is used; 
while at other times the interior is modified into expand- 

ing spirals represented by two or three colors. (See 
Illustrations V and XVI.) However it may be rep- 
resented, the people understand what it means and 
have faith in its efficacy to bring good fortune. 


1 Couling, of. cit., p. 420. 


314 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


VILLAGE VALUES 


A study of village religion and philosophy is the best 
means of understanding village values. Briefly, the 
recurrent ones may be listed as: sons, ancestral worship, 
respect for age, happiness of departed spirits, long life, 
wealth, health, security against accident or other mis- 
fortunes, learning, harmony, conformity, fun. Negative 
values are: daughters, Christianity, youth, sorrow, disease, 
floods, bad crops, poverty, ignorance of books, inability 
to read, innovation. The former may be summed up 
as familism; the latter, as bad fate. 


FUNCTION OF RELIGION 


Religion is the technic of getting these values, which 
in turn correspond to various attitudes or complexes 
of wishes. The bankruptcy of the personal technic of 
wish-satisfaction throws the individual back upon 
community technic, built up on past experience, for 
the fulfilment of the wishes. When the difficulties of 
satisfying wishes are very great, the means beyond the 
control of persons as in the case of floods, disease, and 
so on, the gods and spirits are called upon. Religious 
technic is then a form of psychic compensation for the 
inferiority of human beings struggling under deficit 
economy with adverse forces of nature and a static 
community with its fixed norms of behavior. The degree 
to which training and education, formal and informal, 
have taken the ordinary villager away from himself and 
merged him into the plurality of communities conceived 
to exist is shown by the fact that his wishes take for- 
mulation not in terms of the needs of individual person- 
alities, but of groups, natural, economic or religious, as 
the case may be. The village mechanisms of social control 
in general effectively achieve individual conformity. 


Char Ur Ret 


INDIVIDUALIZATION 


How effective are the village institutions of social 
control and continuity? How do changes in the envi- 
ronmental factors affect the degree of control? What 
forms of behavior are condemned by the village com- 
munity? How far and in what ways are persons break- 
ing through conventions in their efforts to satisfy their 
wishes? How adequate is the rural village community 
to satisfy all the wishes of its members? What wishes 
escape and get satisfaction in spite of mechanisms 
of regulation? In short, what is the degree and what 
the forms of individualization? 

The answers to these questions can best be learned 
through a study of disapproved forms of behavior found 
in Phenix Village. If crime is defined as breaking statute 
laws, then only in a limited sense can this disapproved 
behavior be thought of as criminal. With Sumner’s 
notion of mores in mind—mass activities whose forms 
and results are socially sanctioned—it might be better 
to think of this behavior as immoral. 


SOCIAL CONTROL 


A study of immorality and the punishments therefor 
affords a valid check on the efficiency of the village 
institutions of control. As such, it is an index of the 
village social organization. It also furnishes concrete 
evidence as to the relationships between the village and 
the state agencies of punishment, especially how far 
the latter delimit the range of village autonomy. Formal 


| 


: 


316 COUNTRY LIFECIN SOUTH OGCHIE 


law with the prominence of police action so common in 
Western communities, exists in Phenix Village only in 
cases of behavior especially anti-social. It does not 
protrude into the common thought and speech of the 
village folk. What is customary, traditional, or de- 
termined upon by common consent among the elders, 
what is prescribed by rule and ritual, are the significant 
regulators of personal conduct. Laws exist but rarely 
impinge on village life. 

There is a sense in which the control of persons in 
Phenix Village may be thought of as natural. That is, 
control has been developed within the village group 
by the group itself and in its own interests. The control 
mechanism is thus a phase of familist technic of survival 
under the operation of which the members of the family 
personally and separately consider the status of their 
own selves to be enhanced, advanced or defended. This 
involves processes of assimilation and accommodation 
whereby the values of the person have been made 
practically identical and coterminous in range with 
the values of the village group. A person is socialized 
in this sense only when his scheme of personal values 
approximates or is identical with the scheme of group 
values. In any case, until the group value is made per- 
sonal, the group value does not function either as a 
stimulus to behavior or as a control of conduct. In 
the past this approximation of personal values to 
community values has been achieved about the time 
of physiological maturity and has corresponded in 
general to stabilization of personality. 

The stabilized personality is the moral type in a 
place like Phenix Village because the predominant values 
have been seen to be of a static character. Changes 
have occurred in the physical environment, in a few 


INDIVIDUALIZATION 317 


technological devices, in some social relations and 
marks of status, but as yet, not enough of these have 
accumulated, nor have they been introduced into the 
village rapidly enough to make the community a 
dynamic one. By the time the person becomes an adult, 
he is expected to be perfectly fitted into his plurality 
of communities. But a study of immoral behavior 
among adults shows how this conjunction of biological 
maturation of the person with the period of the stabiliza- 
tion of personality is breaking down. In large complex 
and highly dynamic communities, stabilization of per- 
sonality is coincident with death. Because the emi- 
grant does not break with his natural, social and spiritual 
communities, even when abroad, he can hardly be said 
to hold membership in the highly dynamic communities 
in the areas of immigration of the Pacific Basin. He 
enters small Chinese communities within the large cities 
and encysts himself. Among these emigrants, however, 
one would expect to find the highest amount of immoral 
conduct or the greatest individualization, the greatest 
divergence between biological maturity and personal 
stabilization. 

The stabilized personality is the type desired by the 
village community. Its technic of control on the positive 
or institutional side, as well as on its negative or correc- 
tive, holds that type as its objective. The negative 
technic operates by punishments applied at those points 
in personal behavior where the group has found, through 
past experience, that such behavior is dangerous to its 
solidarity, unity, harmony, or status among other 
similar sib groups in the region. Wishes that other- 
wise might break through conventionality more or 
less frequently are thereby regulated in the interests 
of conformity to village norms. 


318 COUNTRY (LIFE IN) SOUTH Chine 


The prevalence and recurrence of immoral behavior— 
conduct that runs counter to local mores or conven- 
tions—are a measure of the effectiveness of such regula- 
tion. Statistics on delinquency, crime and immorality 
are not in existence, except in rough records in the 
district court, but these cannot be examined. Annual 
reports containing statistics on the work of the courts 
is one of the crying needs all over China. 


TYPES OF CRIME 


According to the best information available, crimes 
are not many nor of kinds to be found particularly in 
Phenix Village, as contrasted with the surrounding 
region. The people are peace-loving, content to do their 
work and make the most of their lot, and abide by 
custom. The greatest negative value in the village is 
to get out of joint with one’s community. Few persons 
from the village have ever been put into the jail at 
Chaochow and rarely do villagers even see the inside 
of the civil court. A very few ever see the local magis- 
trate within a lifetime. But crimes do occur, such as: 


1. Murder, distinguished as accidental or deliberate. 

2. Sex offenses, adultery, rape, fornication. 

3. Theft, nibbling, gang robbery, theft within the 
village, and theft without the village. 

4. Injury to another’s body, property, honor, or 
ancestral graves. 

5. Kidnapping boys, girls, others’ wives, or men to 
be sold as slaves to foreign countries. 

6. Unfilial conduct, such as beating one’s parents, 
starving them or otherwise ill treating them. 

7. Neglect of ancestral worship. 

8. Insulting the sib leaders by word or deed. 

9g. Failure to pay taxes. 


INDIVIDUALIZATION 319 


These delinquencies have been known at some time 
or another and are here ranked as crimes because 
they are punished as well as condemned. Customary 
law has now been made statute law for I, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 
and 9. These, however, constitute the important types 
of negative values of Phenix Village, listed in the order 
of significance in social opinion. That sex offenses are 
given priority to theft, that unfilial conduct—neglect 
of ancestral worship and insult to leaders—should be 
formally recognized as punishable forms of behavior, 
has great sociological significance. The last form, 
failure to pay taxes, is a misdemeanor because the sib 
as a whole is made to suffer when one person fails to 
discharge this duty—the only duty to the state directly 
and clearly recognized. 


PUNISHMENTS 


There are to-day two bases for the application of 
punishments: the laws codified during the Manchu 
dynasty and re-worked as the Provisional Code of the 
Republic, and the social opinion in the village com- 
munity that supports the taboos. The area of obli- 
gation of each person is delimited by the sib and its 
relations to other sibs. The laws may be thought of as 
sib laws and the punishments, sib punishments. 

In the course of village experience the leaders have 
developed definite forms of penalties and punishments 
for the violation of the commonly recognized and 
generally sanctioned ways of doing things, which in 
turn have been accepted and approved by social opinion 
so that specific misdemeanors are followed by stereo- 
typed punishments. These mores of justice are familiar 
to each person and he knows what to expect in case of 
misbehavior. 


320 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


With the agreement of the wronged party, the 
offender may be fined, compelled to admit publicly his 
faults, which means a “‘loss of face,’’ or expelled from 
the village for a long or short period, depending upon 
the nature of the crime and the attitude and status of 
the one who has been offended. In cases of very serious 
offense, such as murder or robbery, the matter is taken 
to the civil courts.! 

Offenses more strictly familistic and not likely to 
affect the state are dealt with by the familist group. 
In case of adultery, the village leaders prefer to decide 
the matter themselves. If the attitude of the wronged 
party is somewhat flexible, the leaders may appeal to 
the person’s appreciation of kinship and esprit de corps 
and so effect a more lenient settlement. The leaders 
avoid action that results in the loss of a member when- 
ever that is possible. The punishment by the clan 
through the leaders is less severe than the justice meted 
out in the courts. In fact, the severity of the Chinese 
courts has been so well known that it became the 
grounds for extra-territoriality when foreign powers 
made treaties with China. The practice of correction 
by maximum punishments was one of the reasons for 
the desire for local administration of justice. 

- The forms of punishment traditionally imposed 
were: 


1. The death sentence—drowning for adultery and be- 
ing buried alive for robbery. 

2. Corporal punishment—applied in various ways for 
different kinds of offenses—cutting off the ears, gouging 
out the eyes (rare), cutting the Achilles tendon, flogging, 

1 Civil courts rather than criminal courts because the latter distinguished 


from the former have been unknown in China. The only other kind of court 
besides the civil is the military. In this connection see Jamieson, op. cit. 


INDIVIDUALIZATION 321 





being tied up to pillars for hours, starvation, to be bitten 
by poisonous ants. 

3. Fines—the distribution of sweets to all groups in 
the village as an indication of the offender’s willingness to 
confess his faults; giving the offended party articles 
deemed to bring good fortune, such as firecrackers, 
red satin or silk, wine, gilded or silver flowers, and so on; 
money in amounts according to the nature of the offense 
as restitution. 

4. Deprivation—for offenses less weighty—loss of a 
share in the public property; loss of the privilege of living 
in the village for a limited period or for life. The latter 
sentence means exile to foreign countries. 


ADMINISTRATION OF PUNISHMENTS 


The administration of justice and the enforcement 
of punishments in Phenix Village are carried on, as 
referred to before (pages 127 ff.), by the council of leaders. 
For the special cases that come under the state there 
are courts and modern legal procedure copied after 
judicial practice in Europe and America. But for all 
cases handled by the village authorities, there are no 
special agencies or functionaries to adjudge or to ad- 
minister justice. Every case of misconduct is handled 
in an informal manner. 

When a person has been wronged, he brings the matter 
to the attention of the village authorities, constituted 
as described under village polity, who then call a meeting 
for the special consideration of the matter. Or, an in- 
stance of delinquency may be brought to their attention 
in any number of ways, and they would decide to in- 
vestigate and adjudge. The parties concerned are 
brought in and the charges and defenses made. There- 
upon the council of leaders act as a jury and determine 


322 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


a settlement. The controlling principle that operates 
in all justicial decisions made by the leaders is the 
following: to treat all parties as though they were 
members of one’s own natural- or economic-family. 
In announcing a judgment against an offender they have 
been known to shed tears of sympathy; and at the same 
time to try to console the offended party with a show of 
genuine affection. People much prefer village familist 
justice to that of the courts because it is more human. 
It is better for the sib to handle offenses in this way 
because it prevents the development of prejudices and 
schisms in familist unity. 

Cases are carried into court, as a rule, only when 
the offended party considers that justice has not been 
meted out to the offender. When the leaders fail to 
to give satisfaction, then the family, the economic- 
family, of course, will back up the individual in carrying 
the matter into the courts. If the leaders are strong in 
character and wise and intelligent there will be few 
lawsuits. There have actually been cases of murder that 
have been successfully adjudicated by the leaders, so 
that action in the courts was unnecessary. 

In the economic-family, the father or the elder brother 
is the judge and jury of all conduct of members in the 
home. Within the family he dispenses justice among the 
various members and he strives so to administer punish- 
ments that the affairs of the group will not become objects 
of concern for the village leaders. When his control 
breaks down or his administration is faulty, then offenders 
appeal their cases to the village leaders. When, in turn, 
the justice of village leaders is not considered complete, 
the case is appealed to the courts. From that agency 
there is no further appeal. So complete is the authority 
of the chia-chang in the home that he may even declare 


INDIVIDUALIZATION 323 


a death sentence upon his wife, daughter or daughter-in- 
law for adultery. A father may expel his unfilial sons 
or grandchildren. 

Justice is not always rendered in an even-handed 
manner in Phenix Village. There have been cases where 
the leaders have been under the influence of large branch- 
families or sib moieties that have been able to pervert 
or miscarry justice. If the offended party belongs to 
a decadent line of the sib, if his immediate relatives 
are few and his financial resources and his learning 
limited, he hardly dares to demand absolute justice 
from the offender who may have the support of a power- 
ful familist group. Should he insist upon absolute and 
complete justice, the leaders may grant it, but members 
of the strong familist group may subject the plaintiff 
to unending persecution in all sorts of indirect ways. 
This alternative is not unknown to every villager and 
enters into the control of his behavior in case of an 
offense against him. 

It is the business of each leader of any practical 
grouping within the village, in any and all circumstances, 
to see to it that the members behave. He therefore 
has large powers of control and punishment, except 
where the interests of the sib are concerned. Then the 
matter must come before the village or sib leaders. 
The same principle of responsibility applies to the 
village as a whole. The leaders are in control of the 
village in matters of internal polity and justice and 
control of the conduct of village members until other 
groups of people outside of Phenix Village are affected. 
Then the state considers that its duty is to protect the 
other groups. More and more to-day the state is reaching 
into village moral control and village political organiza- 
tion. In a period of weak police control, exploitation of 


324 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


the simple village folk by official sharpers is so easy 
that the local magistrates exploit the naiveté and 
ignorance by forms of blackmail. From this evil the 
villagers see little relief until the central provincial 
government is stabilized and has organized efficient police 
protection for those who may desire it against the graft 
and squeeze and exploitation of the officials. 

The administration of justice is simple, direct, effective 
and familistic in that the norms and the judgments in 
harmony with the norms are all cast in terms of family 
welfare, administered by familist agents for the main- 
tenance of family unity. 

Such are the forms of behavior of which the commu- 
nity disapproves sufficiently vehemently to punish with 
varying degrees of severity the persons who by their 
conduct are trying to secure the satisfaction of their 
wishes by circumventing taboos and the village control 
or by breaking through conventional behavior with 
direct challenges. Delinquency is considered by the 
older villagers to be on the increase, especially since 
many of the village members travel to Chaochow, 
Swatow and in foreign lands as emigrants. If the 
emigrant returns rich and powerful, he and his foreign 
wife live in accordance with norms somewhat unfamiliar 
to the ordinary villagers, who make allowances for their 
relatives. Social opinion seems to have become more 
lenient in its pressure upon these people, but, of course, 
not with regard to the major types of offenses. 


TABOOS 


There are a number of bad social practices which, 
according to the standards of other cultures, might be | 
called immoral or even criminal, but in Phenix Village 
they are condemned but not punished. They must be 


INDIVIDUALIZATION 325 


judged morally in terms of the local village complex of 
negative and positive values. Here they are listed under 
‘“‘bad social practices’? because sociological analysis 
reveals their inimical tendencies in village life. 

The habit of consuming wine is very common. Gen- 
erally the wine is of local production, what is known as 
sam-shu or rice-wine. The quantity of alcohol is very 
high and one cannot drink much at a time. There are 
many who drink some every day, but others only at feast 
time. A few consume foreign liquor. 

The drinking of wine is not only a part of convivial 
ceremony but is an important feature in religious wor- 
ship. People drink wine when entertaining friends, at 
neighborhood gatherings, on great occasions as the 
birth of a male child, marriage, at funerals on the com- 
pletion of the grave, on the return of emigrants from 
foreign countries, and at all festivals and feasts. Wine 
is consumed at the time of ancestral worship as a part 
of the rites, and also in honor of the local gods after 
the religious procession. In spite of much wine drinking, 
few people get drunk. 

Gambling is another common practice that theoreti- 
cally is condemned and yet is winked at by social opin- 
ion. There are no village taboos on gambling. The 
more careful members of the community realize the 
dangers of losing their fortunes through the practice 
and therefore only indulge, and only allow their children 
to indulge, at Chinese New Year holidays. Then many 
groups may sit around all night staking their luck in 
a variety of gambling games. Once in the game, it is 
taken quite seriously and each player tries to gain all 
he can. It is not for purposes of recreation. 

Gambling gets such a hold on some of the members 
that they end in complete ruin. One member of the 


326 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


village realized the extent to which he was controlled 
by the habit, so he cut off the fingers of his left hand 
to keep himself from the allurements of the game. 
But when the New Year holidays came around again, 
he was found playing with cards by holding them be- 
tween the stump of his hand and his knee. 

Following is a list of the kinds of gambling games 
found in Phenix Village: 


. “Four Directions”’ 

. Cards 

Poker 

. Domino—‘‘ Mah Jong”’ 
SaG Maa raGters 
Lottery 

. Rolling Coins 

. Bamboo Slips 

ot QU HiaS | 


C0 ON ANF WN HE 


While chess and checkers are both very ancient and 
commonly enjoyed they are not used for gambling 
purposes. Cards and dominoes are the games generally 
used in this way. 

Dishonesty is freely admitted to exist in various forms. 
Theoretically it is taboo and children are instructed by 
parents to adhere to certain forms of honesty which 
they themselves practically deny. The people practice 
forms of deception upon one another so commonly 
that it is the expected thing and everyone is gui vive 
not to get caught. | 

There are no fixed and absolute standards of measure- 
ment. There are scales and measuring sticks, but these 
vary as much as is practically possible. The purchaser 
carries with him his own means of measurement. When 
he buys cloth he checks the shopkeeper’s yardstick by 


INDIVIDUALIZATION 327 


using his own. He argues for the correctness and re- 
liability of his own and the shortness of the merchant’s 
measure. Each uses the measure that favors himself. 
There is, of course, a practical limit to variations. But 
because of these differences in measures of length and 
quantity and weight, the shopper is obliged to higgle 
on both price and quantity. The price finally agreed 
upon is a resultant of the different conceptions of the 
accuracy of the other person’s measure, the need of 
the article, and the state of the market as regards the 
article. The necessity of carrying a foot rule or bucket 
or scale is very inconvenient, but the people are so habit- 
uated to it that they do not think of the advantage of 
standards fixed and enforced by the state. Besides, there 
is always the possibility of getting the edge of a bargain 
by applying one’s own measure; that seems to be com- 
pensation for any inconvenience. Deficit economy! works 
for parsimony even in minutiae of customary activity. 

In exchanging money from one unit to another there 
is no fixed ratio, for the government has not yet achieved 
the power to enforce standards of relative values of 
different coins. Besides, coins vary according to the 
conditions of the money market. The basis of finance 
is the silver dollar, but the amount of silver in the dollar, 
the state of the silver market in the banks of the prov- 
ince, which in turn are determined by the state of the 
market for silver and its relation to the supply of gold 
in the world market, therefore varying according to 
mintage, all determine the exchange rate as fixed from 
day to day by the native banks in Chaochow. The 
‘boatmen inform the villagers of the rate of exchange 
and even then each person tries to higgle for a favorable 


: 
trade between one form of coinage and another. 


1 Vide pp. 85 and 1809 ff. 





328 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


Furthermore, the production of spurious money is 
great. Counterfeit money is prevalent. No one will 
accept anything but a cash coin or a copper coin without 
testing it out by ringing it on the counter or on a stone 
or by biting it. This is considered no insult because 
everyone does it; it is the expected thing. But whenever 
persons get hold of counterfeit money they strive in 
every way possible to use it. The practice occurs by 
tacit social approval, although if pressed, anyone will 
freely admit that it is wrong. The only deterrent is 
the possibility of discovery if the wrong is too flagrant 
with the consequent loss of confidence and trust. Cheat- 
ing is not so much a matter of ethics as of practical 
business technic. 

Adulteration of foodstuffs is also commonly practiced. 
There is no state regulation and local practice is con- 
trolled by competition, individual watchfulness, and 
the buyer’s knowledge of such bad practices. Grain is 
adulterated by adding water, particularly when the 
farmer pays his farm rent in kind. Quarrels constantly 
arise between the landlords and the tenants over this 
practice of cheating. 

Self-seeking men exploit their opportunities to cheat 
in handling public funds. By clever devices they squeeze 
all they can; they render a report to the community 
in an indirect way. The people generally know about 
how much is received as income from the sale of products, 
because in so small a community gossip operates to 
inform people in small matters as well as large. They 
also know about the amounts spent on the objects of 
public care: schools, temples, roads, and so on. When- 
ever squeeze can be proved, the community mobilizes 
social opinion for punishment by fine, but these matters 
are in the hands of the council of leaders who form an 


INDIVIDUALIZATION 329 


inner circle of mutual defence. The ordinary person 
would be rash to move against the leaders. Only com- 
petition between the leaders and mutual distrust and 
suspicion tend to control those handling public funds. 


SEX DELINQUENCY 


Sex irregularity is not common in Phenix Village, but 
it does occur. There is definite recognition of the forms 
and punishments therefor. Sex irregularity is unusual 
because the personal wishes for intimate response are 
not subjected to inhibition or suppression. Early 
marriage allows sex experience of a normal kind just 
about the age when physiological maturation stimulates 
sex desire. The community value of “sons and many 
of them”’ for the social needs of lineal continuity and 
familist worship results in making early marriage a 
positive value, which conforms to the needs of natural 
growth. This is one instance where societal convention 
conforms to biological functioning in a natural way. 

There is no need for sex irregularity for the married 
husband, for if he does not secure satisfaction of the 
wishes for personal response, in other words, if he does 
not fall in love with his wife, he may, provided he has 
the financial resources, take a soul-mate, a love-wife, 
or in common terms, a concubine. Because marriage 
is a matter entirely of the familist group, the wife 
represents no personal choice. And yet, most husbands 
either fall in love with their wives or tolerate them 
out of necessity. The attitudes toward fate greatly 
facilitate the acceptance of the wife. If sex relations 
with the wife are not accompanied by affection, then 
concubinage relieves the husband from sex irregularity 
that would come under social condemnation. Con- 
cubinage would seem, then, to be a societal compromise 


330 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


with the person for imposing upon him, through its 
system of group marriage determination, a mate whom 
he has no part in choosing. As such, it is a better 
method of solving the problem of unsuccessful marriage 
than the Western method of prostitution. Certainly, 
it is more honest and more fair to the husband, but it 
is based squarely on the inferiority of women. ‘This is 
the rock on which concubinage will flounder. 

At any rate, concubines have status in the village 
community, not as favorable as do the wives, but 
certainly more acceptable from the point of view of 
the woman than that of prostitutes in Western countries. 
‘Given group selection of a marriage mate, no divorce, 
and an inferior status of women, and concubinage must 
be admitted to be (relative to the village ethnos, of 
course) an efficient social device for adjustment to the 
needs of sex life. The concubine is not condemned by 
her community; the prostitute is. The radical feminist 
might argue that the prostitute has her freedom and is 
a person and not an instrument of sex pleasure nor 
a breeding animal. But except when concubines are 
brought in as sex and economic slaves, they may enjoy 
even more satisfaction of the wish for personal response 
in the conjugal relationship than the wife. The village 
wife would deserve such feminist stricture more than 
the concubine, because the relationship between the 
husband and the concubine is personal while that with 
the wife is social or conventional, more strictly speaking, 
familist. The comparison here is with the commercial 
prostitute, not the temporary prostitute who is mistress 
to one man only as long as the relationship is mutually 
agreeable. The latter case would correspond closely to 
the system of concubinage in the village without the 
social sanction characteristic of concubinage, but with 


INDIVIDUALIZATION 331 


more personality values than in concubinage. Generali- 
zations are not very reliable in either case, for specific 
instances vary greatly in both types of culture. 

Other reasons for the infrequency of sex irregularity 
are: the community is small and all the members have 
the same surname, which would make irregularity pun- 
ishable under the incest rule, and punishment severe 
for such delinquency. The community is so small 
that it is practically impossible for a member to do any- 
thing that is not known by a sib member. Members 
come into face-to-face relations constantly, which af- 
ford direct communication of attitudes by gesture, 
glance, posture, through the visual senses as well as 
pressure and hearing, and these operate as immediate 
controls of personal wishes, which might under im- 
personal and secondary community relationships escape 
in satisfaction, conventional taboos notwithstanding. 

Punishment for adultery is as severe as punishment 
for murder. The offender if caught may be put to death 
on the spot by the offended party, his ears may be cut 
off, or he may be maimed for life, or heavily fined. 
The woman may be secretly drowned in the river, killed 
with her lover, forced to commit suicide or divorced 
with public disgrace. The last would be the worst 
punishment because the ‘‘loss of face’’ that involves 
so great a break with the community in violating com- 
munity mores is a negative value of great importance 
in Phenix Village. In cases where persons are so in- 
dividualized that they thus violate community mores 
and break with their community, they can regain mem- 
bership in it, so runs social opinion, only by a show of 
courage in suicide. They are reinstated thus in the 
community by their death which proves their repentance. 
Only in this way can the insult to the community be 


332 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


wiped out. The youths are inculcated with these at- 
titudes which regulate their wishes and curb their 
tendency to individualization. | 

But in spite of the controls, persons do break the 
conventions. The prohibited relationships within which 
sex intercourse is taboo are: 


A man and his sister-in-law (brother’s Wifey 
A man and his female cousin. 

A man and his aunt. 

A man and his niece. 

A man and his neighbor’s wife or sister, etc. 

A man and a relative from outside the village. 
A man and a maid-servant—his own or one be- 
longing to someone else. 


ead ne ne ado 


The causes for sex irregularity, as stated by a member 
of the sib, are: 


Delay of marriage. 

Long absence of the husband from home. 
Impure literature. 

Impure theatrical performance. 

Poverty (rare). 

Conjugal infelicity coupled with limited finances. 
Bad companions. 

Drunkenness. 

Uncontrollable sex desire (probably mental 
defect). 


In spite of the disapproval of sex irregularity, the 
people make no conscious effort for the prevention of 
such bad social behavior except by punishment, by edu- 
cation concerning the punishments inflicted for such 
offenses, and by segregation of the sexes. These are 
all negative controls. But they have been far more 


DS en Bees fe ua, ee 


INDIVIDUALIZATION 333 


effective in socialization than have the controls of indi- 
vidualistic society. The opinion of villagers is that 
sex irregularity is on the increase, although no statistics 
exist to prove the contention. Emigration, travel, 
residence in Chaochow and Swatow, reading modern 
magazines and books filled with individualistic atti- 
tudes, all work for individualization. 


CHAR TE Rial! 


THE VILLAGE AS A NEIGHBORHOOD 
AND AS A COMMUNITY 


What light do the facts and analyses set forth throw 
upon the nature and function of a neighborhood and a 
community? The sociological investigation and dis- 
cussion of both these types of areas of interaction have 
increased markedly in the recent past. Community 
organization has rested upon a number of assumptions 
that lacked validity when subjected to an empirical 
test; socioanalysis has been directed upon these con- 
cepts in order to make them more reliable categories 
of classification: these two movements have conjoined 
in an effort to improve both theory and practice. 

Is Phenix Village a neighborhood? Isitacommunity? 
Are there any differences that make it possible to dis- 
tinguish a neighborhood from a community? Is there 
any advantage in so differentiating the two concepts? 

Two fundamental notions form a common denominator 
of both concepts—people and geography. In much 
discussion, both the neighborhood and the community 
have been defined in terms of geographical contiguity 
of persons. The main distinction has been one of geo- 
graphical area. The secondary distinction has involved 
the size and organization of the group of people. 

Owing to the researches of the rural sociologists, 
Butterfield, Galpin, Sanderson, Kolb, Taylor and Zim- 
merman, the inaccuracy of these distinctions has been 
revealed not because of any fundamental error in them, 
but because of unwarranted assumptions derived from 


A NEIGHBORHOOD AND A COMMUNITY = 335 


them. The emphasis has been shifted from physical 
concepts to socio-psychological categories. 
Thus Hieronymous: 
people living fairly close together in a more or 


less compact, contiguous territory, coming to act together 
in the chief concerns of life. 


And Jackson: 


A community is an idea whose function is a definite ter- 
ritorial area, whose superstructure is a set of like interests 
consciously recognized ascommoninterests. . . . Itis 
not an act but a process. 


And Dunn: 


The community consists of a group of people living to- 
gether in a single locality and bound together by common 
interests. They are also subject to common laws. 


But Butterfield: 


A neighborhood is simply a group of families living con- 


veniently near together . . . it is not a community. 
A true community is a social group that is more or less self- 
sufficing. 


And Sanderson: 


The community, however, is not an area, nor an aggre- 
gation or association, but rather a corporate state of mind 
of those living in a local area. 


Lindeman! makes the following distinction: 


The community, which is an aggregate of families, is 
the vital unit of society in which the individual secures 
his education, receives his standards of health and morality, 
expresses his recreational tendencies and labors to earn his 
share of wordly goods. The neighborhood is also an aggre- 
gate of families but with this distinction: the community 


1Lindeman, E. C.. The Community. New York: 1921. pp. 9-13. 


336 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


is an organized unit with institutions having specific func- 
tions, while the neighborhood is merely the group of families 
living within an acquaintance area. 


Finally, Sanderson in his latest research sets forth 
the following: 


The only principle for the distinction of neighborhood and 
community which we have been able to recognize, is that 
more of the interests of the people in a neighborhood are 
satisfied by the institutions and life of the community 
than by the neighborhood. 


Following the splendid lead that Galpin of Wisconsin 
gave to rural sociological research through his study in 
the anatomy of rural communities, the present investi- 
gators make much of the concept of services for the de- 
termination of neighborhood and community groups. 
This is a valuable category of analysis and is capable 
of empirical demonstration, but it alone does not pro- 
vide a satisfactory distinction between the types of 
groups, nerghborhood and community. 

If a combination is made of Cooley’s concept of 
primary relationships, Galpin’s service area, Thomas’ 
wishes and used as a tool of analysis of a neighborhood 
and community, a clearer distinction may be arrived at. 


DEFINITION OF A NEIGHBORHOOD 


Theoretically, then, the neighborhood would be an 
area of interaction characterized by primary relationships 
of sufficient intimacy to control and regulate effectively the 
wishes of those engaged in such interaction. The area is 
primarily a socio-psychological one with ultimate terri- 
torial or geographic implications in that all life finally 
bases on geography. 

t1Sanderson, D. and Thompson, W. S. Social Areas of Otsego County. 


Bulletin 422, Cornell University, Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, 
New York: 1923. p. 28. (Italics authors’.) 


A NEIGHBORHOOD AND A COMMUNITY — 337 


DEFINITION OF A COMMUNITY 


The community is an area of interaction characterized 
by relationships of sufficient extension as to provide maxi- 
mum satisfaction of personal wishes according to the norms 
imposed by the neighborhood. It has arelation to territory 
but only as geography conditions the location and oppor- 
tunity for services by which persons satisfy their wishes. 
It is that area of interaction whose contour and extent is 
determined by the adequacy within the area to satisfy the 
wishes of any one person or any number of persons. 

It is more than a service area. It is a complex of 
service areas of sufficient number to satisfy all the 
wish-complexes that arise. When culture is relatively 
static, the historical stereotypes fix the limits of varia- 
tion of wish-complexes, except where individuals for 
one reason or another break through conventionality 
and so tend to limit the number of agencies and services 
needed. Furthermore, under these conditions of tradi- 
tional cuiture-control, a number of people come to recog- 
nize their common use of similar agencies and services 
for the satisfaction of their wishes. Out of this grow 
rapport, esprit de corps, and morale, which are then 
accompanied by forms of rationalization, such as ancestor 
worship, filial piety, and so on, and collective representa- 
tion, such as the lanterns before the entrances inscribed 
with the sib name, the temples and ancestral halls, 
the images and tablets in which reside ancestral spirits, 
and the like. 

From this it follows that the more static the culture 
the greater the limitation upon the extent of the com- 
munity because of this limitation of possible wish-com- 
plexes. Conversely, as the culture expands, new stimuli 
arise in new inventions, the injection of new values or 
attitudes, the variation in quantity and manner of 


338 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 





contact, all provide for new combinations of the wishes, 
or the development of new norms of behavior. Signifi- 
cant changes in any or all of the conditioning factors, 
biological, geographical, technological, social (see Figure 
1) involve new combinations of the four types of wishes. 
Then people tend to expand their communities in secur- 
ing satisfaction for their wishes. Cultural expansion 
and enrichment, with its concomitant division of 
labor, specialization, and interdependence, necessitate 
enlargement of the area of wish-satisfaction. 


METHODS OF DELIMITATION 


With this in mind, the clearest contrast that can be 
drawn, at the present stage of research into relationships 
between the neighborhood and the community, wherever 
they may be found, would be expressed thus: The 
neighborhood is a_ series of relationships beyond the 
kinship group within which the control of personal 
wishes is most effective; the community 1s that sertes 
of group relationships through which the expression of 
personal wishes is most nearly adequate. The former 
is an area of control; the latter an area of adequacy. 
Neither are permanent in any absolute way; both 
shift and change in size, form and significance from 
day to day. Both vary among persons of the same 
geographical area, even of the same natural-family, 
according to age, experience, status, wealth and so on. 
The nearest it is possible to get to the determination 
or definition of either of these areas is to superimpose 
both types of areas of personal participation upon 
those of other persons until a central core would emerge. 
The fringe would be ragged and vague, because the 
marginal instances of personal experience would be 
fewest and would vary most from the mode. So in the 


A NEIGHBORHOOD AND A COMMUNITY = 339 


definition of the neighborhood, one might graph the 
areas within which one person after another finds his 
wishes controlled and regulated by his primary contacts 
with kin, friend, neighbor, shopkeeper, boatmen, and 
spirit of some god or ancestor. Manifestly, these areas 
would not coincide. They would differ as between boys 
and girls, men and women; they would differ, in a 
word, according to status, which in Phenix Village so 
clearly fixes the range of wish-satisfaction. But by 
such superimposition of personal areas, there would 
gradually come forth, as in the case of racial types . 
determined by the superimposition of photographic films, 
a composite thickest at the center and most indefinite at 
the fringe, which might then be called the neighborhood. 

Similarly, one might graph the areas within which 
one person after another secures satisfaction of all his 
wishes. This could never be absolutely determined, 
for imagination frequently takes people into the spiritual 
or metaphysical world where they secure satisfaction 
vicariously or by compensation. Such might be a 
literary or religious or poetical experience. Practically 
the area would cover the extent of the person’s physical 
movements and yet note would have to be made of his 
range of social contacts, through the means of communica- 
tion—gossip, the press, letters, and so on—at his disposal. 
By superimposing these one could secure a social nebula 
similar in appearance to that of the neighborhood. A 
community might vary from practically complete iden- 
tity and coincidence with a neighborhood to almost 
_complete separation. 


PHENIX VILLAGE AS A NEIGHBORHOOD 


What, then, can be said about Phenix Village as a 
neighborhood? Its area can only roughly be determined 


340 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


here because the personal data are lacking. In general, 
the neighborhood may be crudely represented by the 
regional and local maps. For most people, the village, 
and the village only, is the neighborhood. The small 
children, the old people, the wives of the better house- 
holds, some concubines in the wealthier families rarely 
move beyond the cluster of houses in the village. Some 
only rarely sally beyond the walls of their ancestral 
homes. Here they meet one another, day by day, 
converse, gossip, codperate, compete, quarrel, hate and 
love, and in other ways carry on the process of inter- 
action, which is called life in the village. 

Within these homes, in the lanes and streets, and in 
the shops, people see one another. The area of vzszence 
is generally more limited than the area of audience. The 
area of visience is, therefore, the area of greatest control. 
Intimacy is greatest within the confines of the village 
proper. Here everyone old enough to understand 
knows much about everyone else. The sense of sight 
operates constantly in transmitting and catching impres- 
sions, attitudes. The glance, the frown, the smile of 
approval, the sneer, the look of commendation all 
serve to strengthen or repress wishes that in seeking > 
expression call forth such responses from associates. So 
limited is this area that one can hardly escape constant 
surveillance. 

In other words, to use the figure of a possible graph, 
the core, or the area of thickest primary contact, would 
be in the north end of the village (Map 3) where the 
residents are most thickly congested. If this were rep- 
resented by a solid black color, then around it would be 
shades of deep gray to picture the secondary area, which 
would include the fields belonging to members of the vil- 
lage, such as that region included in the dotted lines in 


A NEIGHBORHOOD AND A COMMUNITY 341 


Map 3. Running southward and along the road to the 
market street would be an arm nearly as black as the core 
to the north, and on beyond the market would occur 
a dark gray extension, but lighter than for the fields 
surrounding Phenix Village, on to ‘‘Tan’’ Village. An 
arm would occur still lighter and narrower, extending to 
Chaochow, where there would be several satellitic nodes; 
and a thin line possibly to Swatow. 

But the significant thing is that within the area so 
delimited gossip is constant, people meet face-to-face, 
impose values and attitudes upon one another and in 
many ways control behavior. The basis of this neigh- 
borhood is blood; the values that serve as schematized 
behavior norms are familist. 


THE SPIRITUAL NEIGHBORHOOD 


Two questions still press for answer: Does the neigh- 
borhood extend to the areas of immigration? Should 
one speak of a spiritual neighborhood in Phenix Village? 
If so, what is its relation to the living neighborhood? 

To answer the last question first: the people of 
Phenix Village conceive of a world of spirits that are 
constantly supervising and controlling for good or ill 
the fortunes and behavior of the living. These spirits 
roam at will and are everywhere. They may reside 
in tablets and yet move about. When they are dis- 
pleased they wreak vengeance and the sinner suffers 
bad luck. That is how he knows he has displeased 
them. So constant is the concern of the ordinary 
villager for these spirits, so frequent their magical per- 
formances for placation, that the stereotyped con- 
ceptions of the values and attitudes of the spirits are 
seen to be of equal importance to those of the living. 
Given these notions, Phenix Village as a neighborhood 


342 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


must include the inhabitants both physical and spiritual. 
Although it may be claimed that these spirits are purely 
projections of the imagination, dogmatic beliefs without 
foundation of fact, they nevertheless act as stimuli, 
through the operation of the ‘‘mirrored self,’ and, 
through suggestion as a mechanism of social interaction, 
control people’s behavior. As such, the spiritual inhabi- 
tants of Phenix Village are just as factual as the living 
physical occupants. 

So long as the villager’s faith in spirits holds firm, 
so long by the very subjective nature of the spiritual 
neighborhood the emigrant carries this part of his 
neighborhood with him. How real it remains can be 
determined by the degree of divergence of the behavior 
of emigrants when abroad and when in the village. 
Data are not in hand for any generalization on this 
matter, except to note that village values as to marriage, 
particularly bigamy, give place to foreign values, which 
indicates at least a partial disintegration of faith and 
some disappearance of the spiritual neighborhood. There 
is no evidence, direct or indirect, to indicate complete 
loss of faith and submission to the spiritual neighbor- 
hood, except in the case of one emigrant family which, 
being Christian, lives under the control of an entirely 
different set of values. Phenix Village as a neighbor- 
hood extends its control to areas of immigration through 
the functioning of the spiritual neighborhood; one’s 
ancestral spirits in Saigon impose upon one the same 
values as in Phenix Village, so long as one believes 
and adheres to the religious complex of ancestral worship. 

Familist attitudes and organization may grow weak 
in their influence upon particular emigrants, but few 
have come to the point of complete denial of their 
familist obligations, or of sacrifice of their privileges 


A NEIGHBORHOOD AND A COMMUNITY 343 


for individual freedom. Divergence is seen to be most 
frequent and greatest among the emigrants, when compar- 
ing the behavior of all the members of Phenix Village sib. 
By virtue of the effective imposition of behavior 
norms in the Phenix Village locality, by the time the 
emigrants leave home their personalities are so sta- 
bilized that their habits in general seem to retain their 
strength even in foreign social situations. The village 
habits are, of course, supported and reénforced by 
other members of Phenix Village among whom an 
emigrant goes to live. So do familist ideals of loyalty 
and familist practices of mutual aid tend to build up 
in areas of immigration extensions of the Phenix Village 
neighborhood. That the extension is not identical is 
proved by the fact that returned emigrants are con- 
stantly introducing new attitudes and practices into 
Phenix Village, thereby deranging village controls. 


IS VILLAGE LIFE ADEQUATE? 


Is Phenix Village an area of adequacy? Is it a com- 
munity? Excluding discussion of the emigrants at 
this point, it is possible to note that the area of adequacy 
varies inversely to the number of people. Thus familist 
practice is of such a character, and the material culture 
is so simple, that not a few households are well-nigh 
self-sufficing. That they are not completely so is shown 
by the support of the market and the use the villagers 
make of the ferry to obtain service from Chaochow. 
The larger homes, the village with the market, and the 
village linked by ferry with Chaochow represent the 
contour lines of areas of relative adequacy. 

For all ordinary purposes one might think of the 
village as a community in that it maintains itself and 
within it most people get satisfaction for all their wishes. 


344 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


The various chapters preceding are all built up around 
description and analysis of just how the people try to 
satisfy their wishes within their own group as delimited 
on a blood basis. 

From time to time the inadequacy of the village, as 
geographically defined, has been recognized. Such a 
time was when the leaders decided to establish their 
own market; such a time, when the group that now 
operates the ferry established that transportation ser- 
vice; so also, when people emigrated to the South Seas 
to seek their fortunes, to Swatow to secure modern 
and advanced education, to Chaochow to live under 
conditions of greater freedom and opportunity. 

However, there are two connections which in spite 
of migration hold people to membership in the Phenix 
Village community. For this reason the community 
does not split, but spreads. This process may best be 
represented not by a rock that fractures but by an 
amoeba that expands and sends out pseudopods and 
occasionally, by fissure, establishes a new organism. 
The village community by virtue of its familistic or- 
ganization—the blood and the land nexus—preserves 
its unity even while expansion goes on because of in- 
creasing inadequacy of the local village area to provide 
opportunity for personal achievement and expression. 

All this expansion has further reacted to increase the 
variation in wish-formation which, in turn, makes the 
local area still more inadequate. The leaders must 
come to recognize this as fundamental to the main- 
tenance or destruction of their village community. 
With increasing values introduced by new mechanisms 
and types of communication, the pressure for migration 
from the village will grow stronger. The only alternative 
is for the village to develop wise leadership that will, 


A NEIGHBORHOOD AND A COMMUNITY 345 


through reconstruction within the village community, 
tend to increase the adequacy of that local geographic 
area. At best this will never be complete adequacy 
for the simple reason that there is always a lag between 
personal wish-formulation under new social stimulation 
and the provision in the community for satisfaction of 
newly formulated wish-complexes. Imagine the situation 
of a young student nineteen years of age who through 
reading has learned of dancing and wishes to enjoy the 
pleasure he reads about in a Shanghai newspaper. 

The leaders have become conscious of this crisis and 
have attempted reorganization by substituting modern 
schools for the old types. But there is opportunity for 
improvements of many kinds. The great inadequacies 
are: recurrent floods and failure to control their destruc- 
tive force, inability to improve crops and so a failure 
to increase income, ignorance of business practice and 
marketing methods,—wish for security; strict imposition 
of social stereotypes, adherence to traditional norms of 
behavior purely for traditional reasons, filial piety,— 
wish for dominance; limitation of experience through 
constant toil to maintain life, little opportunity to 
travel, the fundamental similarity of the people and their 
customs, the infrequency of dramatics and processions, 
the taboo on play, the ennui of women of the wealthier 
homes, the fatigue of women of the poorer homes,— 
the wish for new experience; selection of a wife by the 
family authorities without consultation of the person 
most involved and most concerned, weakening belief 
in Fate as controlling these matters, growing independ- 
ence of thinking and judgment, limitation of intimate 
experience with the other sex, formalized relationships 
between different members of the familist groupings or 
conventionalized status,—the wish for personal response. 


346 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


As the leaders are able to eliminate these inadequacies 
Phenix Village will become more of a community than 
it is at present and will be able to preserve its identity 
and essential unity and solidarity. Lacking such im- 
provements it will be absorbed in the Chaochow commu- 
nity and become eventually just a neighborhood for 
those that remain. As such it will be a unit within the 
growing Chaochow social basin. But it is still so nearly 
a community in spite of rapidly increasing wishes on 
the part of the younger people that it would provide 
the natural and social basis for any leadership or program 
of rural village improvement. The real problem for 
social leadership in Phenix Village lodges in the fact 
that the changes are occurring not in the biological 
conditions, nor in the geographical conditions, nor even 
in the technological conditions, but in the conditions of 
social stimulation. The people are being drawn into 
the maelstrom of world thought and activities without 
the world’s technic in knowledge, mechanical skill, or 
philosophy. New wine is being poured into old bottles. 

Phenix Village as a community has vigor and resources 
in tradition and the physical and mental capacities of 
the people. It is, however, beginning to crack under 
the stresses and strains of the infusion of modern ideas. 
That it will survive in its present independent unity 
and familist solidarity is open to grave doubt. Familism 
does not provide the technic of adjustment to a world 
dominated by capitalism. The struggle between the 
two social systems is already on in Phenix Village as a 
rural community, though the nature of the conflicting 
forces is not at all recognized by the village leaders. It 
is to be hoped that familism may adopt the technic of 
capitalism without its exploitative objectives and expand 
into civism that is so sorely needed in modern China. 


SPECIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY 


GALPIN, C. J. Rural Life. New York: Century Co. 1918. 

————.. The Social Anatomy of an Agricultural Community. 
Research Bulletin 34, May, 1915, Agricultural Experi- 
ment Station of the University of Wisconsin. Madison, 
Wis. 

SANDERSON, D. The Farmer and His Community. New 
York: Harcourt, Brace and Company. 1922. 

Locating the Rural Community. Lesson 158. 
Country Life Series. Cornell Reading Course for the 
Farm. June, 1920. New York State College of Agricul- 
ture at Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 
and THompson, W.S. The Social Areas of Otsego 
County. Bulletin 422. July, 1923. Cornell University 
Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 

Kos, J.H. Rural Primary Groups. A Study of Agricultural 
Neighborhoods. Research Bulletin 51. December, 1921. 
Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of 
Wisconsin and United States Department of Agriculture 
Codperating. Madison, Wis. 

. Service Relations of Town and Country. Research 
Bulletin, 58. December, 1923. (Address same as above.) 

Haves, A. W. Some Factors in Town and Country Relation- 
ships. September, 1922. Tulane University of Louisiana. 
New Orleans, La. 

MERRITT, E. and Hatcu, K. L. Some Economic Factors 
Which Influence Rural Education in Wisconsin. University 
of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. 

ZIMMERMAN, C. C. and Taytor, C. C. Rural Organization. 
A Study of Primary Groups in Wake County, N. C. 
Bulletin 245. August, 1922. Agricultural Experiment 
Station, Raleigh, N. C. 

DapiIsMAN, A. J. French Creek asa Rural Community. Bulle- 
tin 176. June, 1921. Agricultural Experiment Station, 


348 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


College of Agriculture, West Virginia University, Morgan- 
town, W. Va. 

Morcan, E. L. Mobilizing the Rural Community. Rural 
Community Organization. Extension Bulletin No. 23. 
September, 1918. Massachusetts Agricultural College, 
Amherst, Mass. 

Nason, W. C. The Organization of Rural Community Build- 
mgs. Farmers’ Bulletin No. 1192. U.S. Department 
of Agriculture. Washington, D. C. (Reprint March, 
1922.) 

FRAME, N. T. Lifting the Country Community. Circular 
255. July, 1922. Extension Division. College of Agri- 
culture, West Virginia University, Morgantown, W. Va. 

Helping the Country Community. Circular 265. 
January, 1923. (Same as above.) 

CLARK, W. W. and WIL.IiAMs, J. H. A Guide to the Grading 
of Neighborhoods. Department of Research, Bulletin 
No. 8. July, 1919. Whittier State School, Whittier, Cal. 

McCLENAHAN, B. A. Organizing the Community. New 
York: The Century Co. 1922. 

Witson, W. H. The Evolution of a Country Community. 
Boston: The Pilgrim Press. Ed. 1923. 

MacGarr, L. The Rural Community. New York: The 
Macmillan Co. 1922. 

Sms, N. L. The Rural Community—Anctent and Modern. 
New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. 1920. (A book of 
well-selected readings.) 


APPENDIX 





NOTE 1 


SAMPLE FIELD CARD FOR ANTHROPOMETRIC INVESTIGATIONS 
OBVERSE AND REVERSE ASPECTS 


CHINESE ANTHROPOMETRY 


7 SUPNAME — cavmnnnerectewamee mmwre Sis snes to 


oa Mt he 
Province .§.\. AL UAV] SUM 


illage 


Investigator. NWT I XYO FF date 05 76 fo 3 Hair ‘color—dark roubbialeediget 


Hair form—streight, wavy, deinlae 
UU ME ad ee cess eee wee Skin color—light dark. AG 
So thighs hee! |, Nose—aquiline, vienaghtpconenve. 
: Eye form—0, 1, dr3-{Japamneo}. 
Ear form—normal ebkanrit-Barpe 
Chin hi nerrg ere oe receding. 


Particuler characteristics : os 


—tip ofayield p process Pentagonal fornt of skull. 
rho it j Hair on body—scant whtdont. 


—tip of middle finger 


upper edge of ‘great 
trochanter ,, 


—knee joint 
» sitting ,, 
. Max. length-head .. ... 
» breadth-headt 
+ Min, 


» Max. 


I, Length of Face (Phys) , 
Petit chats ARAL) J, 
. Nasal height .,, 

» breadth ., oe 
. Int. ocular breadth ‘eevee 

Ext, ° Sas tioas 

. Length of ear pion 


. Bregdthofear .. wo. 





NOTE 2 
METHOD OF ANTHROPOMETRICS 


The method of making the measurements for the 
determination of racial types in Phenix Village and their 
relations to other types in Asia was based upon the 
investigations made by Dr. S. M. Shirokogoroff, curator 
of the Museum of Ethnography and Anthropology of 
the Russian Academy of Sciences at Petrograd. A 
number of cases were measured under Dr. Shirokogoroff’s 
supervision in order to make sure of the identity of 
points of measurement. 

The instruments used were an anthropometer for 
vertical points on the body and two calipers, one for 
the head and the other for the points of the eye and ear, 
etc. They were made by P. Hermann, Zurich. The skin 
color was taken on the basis of the color scale made by 
Professor von Luschen of Munich. The point taken was 
under the arm pit where the sun could not darken 
the skin. 

Points 1 to 10 were taken with the anthropometer; 
points II to 23, with the two callipers. The stature was 
taken twice. The first time the person was faced directly 
forward, the extension arm of the anthropometer was 
pressed gently down upon the topmost point of the 
skull and the result recorded. Then he was faced in a 
three-fourths position and the height recorded again. 
Without letting him move, the arm of the instrument 
was quickly dropped to the ear hole and that height 
recorded. By subtracting the last result from the former 
the height of the head could be estimated with accuracy. 


APPENDIX 353 

Age, hair color, face form, skin color, nose form, eye 
form, ear form, chin form and form of skull were noted 
by observation and recorded according to the categories 
listed and shown in Note 1, illustrated, reverse aspect. 

The absolute measurements taken in the field were 
entered in Column I of the field record card. From 
these data the absolutes for Column II were worked 


out as follows: 


i. 

Il. 
III. 
IV. 
i 
VI. 
VII. 
WALL 
IX. 
x. 


Stature (1) (Arabics of field record card. 
Height of the head (1, II-2, I)* 

Length of the upper arm (4, I-5, I) 
Length of the forearm (5, I-6, I) 

Length of the hand (6, I-7, I) 

Length ot the arm (4, I-7, I) 

Length of the leg (8, I) 

Length of the thigh (8, I-9, I) 

Height of the knee-joint (9, I) 

Length of the trunk (10, I-3, II) 


Note 1) 


The relative measurements worked out from these 
results were: 

















Ati 
XI. Height of the head —— . 100 
ripe 
XII. Length of the arm ep 100 = 7, III 
4, II 
XIII. Length of the upper arm T° 100 = 4, III 
5, II 
XIV. Length of the forearm T 100 = 5, III 
6, II 
XV. Length of the hand ari 100 = 6, III 
8, I 
XVI. Length of the leg rie 100 = 8, III 
10, II 
XVII. Length of the trunk - 100 = 10, III 





’ 


*Roman numerals refer to columns. 


354 


Further 


COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


absolutes in Column I that were secured 


through use of the calipers and calculated for Column II: 


XVIII. 


XIX. 


XX. 


XXI. 
XXII. 
XXIII. 


XXIV. 


XXV. 
XXVI. 


XXVIII. 


XXVIII. 


XXIX. 
XXX. 
XXXI. 
XXXII. 


Maximum length of the head (11, I) 
Maximum breadth of the head (12, I) 
Minimum frontal breadth (13, I) 
Physiognomical length of the face (16, I) 
Anatomical length of the face (17, I) 


Height of the forehead (Column II) (16, I-17, I) 
Interzygomatic breadth (14, I) 
Gonial breadth (15, I) 
Internal interocular breadth (20, I) 
External interocular breadth (21, I) 
(20, I-21, I) 


Ocular length (Column IT) 


Nasal length (10, I) 
Nasal breadth (19, I) 
Length of the ear (22, I) 
Breadth of the ear (23, I) 


Indices calculated from the above data: 


XXXITI. 
XXXIV. 


XXXV. 


XXXVI. 


XXXVIT. 


XXXVITI. 


XXXIX. 


XL. 


XLI. 


joe | 
Eu 
Height of the head to length of the head 
aly 
tt. 2 
Height of the head to breadth of the head 
| 
ToL 





Cephalic index . 100 = 11, IIT 





«1007=) 17, 1V 





¢ 100 = (72, TV 





14, I 
Physiognomical facial index : T° 100 = 16, Ill 
16, 


I 
. 100 





Anatomical facial index : 7a) 


fe 


Lay 





Gonial index . 100 15, III 


4, 





Nasal dudes ono areal 


d 





J ; 23 
Auricular index 


2, 


- 100. = 22, III 


’ 


I 
. 100 





Frontal index 13, III 


(Compare Shirokogoroff, S. M., op. cit., pp. 1-3.) 


NOTE 3 


CENSUS OF SANCHIAOPU, CHEKIANG 
1918 


The following census was made by Dr. James V. 
Latimer of Hangchow, Chekiang, who visited personally 
every house. His own observations were checked up 
through the assistance of a seller of candies on the 
streets, who knew every family, especially the children, 
since his business was largely with children. Where 
the statements of the people were incorrect, this candy- 
seller corrected them in their presence giving the number 
of children they had and their names. Every cooking 
range was taken as the basis for a household, since that 
indicates a separate establishment. This represents 
an economic unit of investigation but does not necessarily 
coincide with familist groupings. And yet many of the 
familist groups are as they are because of the special 
form that the economic bond takes in addition to the 
blood nexus. The data are offered here because they 
offer valuable comparison with those of Phenix Village, 
Kwantung. 


Number Number Total 
of Households of Persons Persons 

17 I L7 
33 2 66 
49 3 147 
54 4 216 
37 5 135 
35 6 210 

7 7 49 
II 8 88 

2 9 18 


356 COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


6 10 60 
3 II 33 
I 12 12 
2 14. 28 
I 20 22 
I 25 25 
259 Average 4:54 1,176 


Eliminating the last two and the first set of cases, the 
average size of the household is 4:64. The mode falls 
on four persons to the stove. 

The number of persons who live singly is accounted 
for by the fact that some of the carriers for the mountain 
resort nearby remain throughout the year in this village, 
and follow regular occupations. Transients were not 
counted. 

It is important to remember that these figures would 
need further correction before they could be applied 
to the marriage-group, the father, mother—wife or 
concubines—and the children. In the groups listed 
here on the basis of those using the same stove, some of 
the persons may be relatives. Thus the eleven groups 
of eight persons each does not mean that the eight 
persons are father, mother and six children. The mem- 
bership might range from suchas a case of kin distribution 
to no children at all. They might all be adults— 
brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents, or nephews 
and nieces. 

No accurate figures exist to show the exact distri- 
bution of membership in the natural family, or marriage- 
group, as described above. 

The results of this census are printed here by per- 
mission of Dr. Latimer. 


INDEX 


Aboriginal ancestry of coastal peo- 
ple, 66 

Adaptation of environments, 27f. 

Adequacy, areas of, xxix 

Adoption, 144; change of name in, 
82 

Adults, xviii, 37f.; education of, 
246f. 

Adultery, punishments for, 176 

Administration, village, 123-34; of 
education, 246f. 

Age, xxiv; and polity, 106; at mar- 
riage, 176; control, 110; disap- 
pearance of, as a basis of leader- 
ship, 116f.; distribution, xvii, 38; 
graph of, 35; table of, 34 

Agriculture, 87f.;occupationsin, 8of. 

Adjudication of customary law asa 
function of leadership, 132 

Almanac, 186-87 

Anagamy, 182-84 

Ancestors, xxiv; fortune of, the chief 
concern of familist effort, xxvii 

Ancestral-group, and polity, 123; 
composition of, 145; halls as 
collective representations of func- 
tional groups, 14, 146; home, 
floor plan of, 153; homestead, 
description of, 152-56; newest and 
finest in Phenix Village, 155; 
inheritance and economic family, 
148f.; lands, 102; property as 
sources of income, 86f.; tablets, 
62, 154; temple, 303; use of, as 
school, 232f.; worship, and the 
spiritual community, 137f.; wor- 
ship, 299-306; and association, 
201; fundamental notions of, 306 

Animism, xviii, 284-87 


Anthropology of North China, Shiro- 
kogoroff, 20 

Anthropometrics, method of, 352 

Apprentices, 121 

Apprenticeship, 257f. 

Architecture, xxvi, 272-74 

Areas, xiii; of control, the neighbor- 
hood, 338; of discourse, xxx; of 
emigration, xxiii; of interaction, 
334; of movements, 41-45; of 
personal participation, 338f.; of 
recreation, 261-83; of village, 
II-13; of social participation, 
XXiil 

ART AND RECREATION, xviii; and 
conventionality, 275-78; evi- 
dences of, 236ff.; fundaments 
for, 262; in village temple, 293; 
minor objects, 274f.; of the ink, 
265-68; of music, 278; objects, 
XXvi; products, xxvi 

Artistic appreciation, xxvi; dualism, 
262 

Assimilation as deserving investiga- 
tion, 43; in the familist group, 
161 

ASSOCIATIONS, 189-215; Parent- 
Burial, 196-203; Sugar Manu- 
facturing, 203-06 

Attitudes, xxiv, xxx; as processes, 
xxx; complexes of, in club, 195f.; 
family, 15; in Parent-Burial 
Association, 201f.; individualistic, 
333; of avoidance of death, 198f.; 
of emigrants, 51f.; religious, 
307-09; fate in mating, 172f.; 
strength of, in voluntary asso- 
ciation, 213; weighting of, 212 

Authority, xxiv 


358 


Autonomy, familist, xxviii; of vil- 


lage, 134 
Avoidance attitudes in death, 298f. 


Ba-gwa, 3126. 
Balance in art, 270 
Bamboo projects, 91 
Bath-houses, 60 
Beggars, 100f. 
Behavior schemes, xxviii 
Bei, 296f. 
Belief, fundamental notion of neigh- 
borhood and community, 334 
Betrothal, xxv; age of, 170; meth- 
ods of, 170-75 

Bigamy, 50 

Biological data, xvii 

Biology, xxx 

Births, 202; as basis of membership 
in a sib, 143; rates, 31-33 

Blood as basis of familist alignment, 
135-38; nexus and _ leadership, 
106; relationship, xxv 

Books, xviii; of Change, I Ching, 186 

Boxing Club, xxv, 207-09 

Boys, importance of, 152; informal 
education of, 256-59 

Branch-family, 145-48; size of, in 
relation to strength of leadership, 
113 

Bride, 179; status of, 143f. 

Bridegroom, 179 

Buddhism, xviii 

Buildings, xvii, 13; public, 14 

Burial, Parent-, Association, 196- 
203 

Business contacts, I9 

Butterfield, 334f. 


Cabinet of ancestral tablets, 154f. 

Calligraphy, xxvi, 266 

Capitalism and familism, 188; in 
conflict with familism, 346 

Carving, 271f. 


COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


Catharsis through the religious ac- 
tivities of associations, 204-06 
Census records as a function of 
leadership, 132 

Ceremonies in ancestral worship, 
public, 302-06; in public worship, 
analysis of, 304-06; private, 
xxvii, 301f. 

Changes in the village, xxv 

Chaochow, xxili, I, 341 

Chapels, ownership of, 1o2f. 

Charities, xv 

Chart, of typical familist groups, 
157 

Chia-chang and the economic family, 
159; and natural leadership in 
clubs, 195; and the religious atti- 
tudes, 307; and the religious fam- 
ily, 159f.; as administrators of 
schools, 231-32; as administrator 
of economic family, 148f.; as 
leader in private religious cere- 
monies, 302; definition of prop- 
erty of, 186; function in marriage, 
170f.; illustration of economic 
responsibility of, 162; positions 
of, 102; widow as a, 129 

Checking, method of, xix 

Children, xviii; number of, 35ff. 

“‘Chinese’’ expansion of culture, 
62-67; migration of, 42f.; new 
year ceremonies, 285; ‘‘Who were 
they?’’ 66f. 

Christian missions, effect of, 309-11; 
school, 227f. 

Christianity, xvili 

Civil wars, 52 

Civism, growth of, 117-20; region 
of, 30f.; sources of, 115; the 
need of modern China, 346 

Clan unity, xvil 

Climate, xvii, xxiii, xxx, 22ff. 

Coffin, artistic decoration of, 275 

Colonies and Chinese, 43-54 


INDEX 


Colonization, 65 

Comity, promotion of, in village, 
as a function of leadership, 132f. 

Common law, 130-33 

Communication, xvii, 18; and ex- 
pansion of community, 344f.; 
types of, xxx 

Communism, 149; non-existence of, 
102f. 

Community, xiii, xiv, 338; and neigh- 
borhood in the village, 334-46; 
and Parent Burial Association, 
202f.; and the school, 250f.; as 
an area of impersonal discourse, 
XxIV; as satisfying wishes, xxix; 
definition of, 337; familist, 119; 
natural industrial, historical, xxvii; 
organization, 334; spirit sib, 185; 
spiritual and religious, 284-314 

Comparison, xxii 

Competitive examinations, 217f. 

Concubinage as a symbol of wealth, 
187 

Concubines, 50, 158, 161; status of, 
330; rights of ownership, I5I 

Conditioning factors of attitudes 
and interactions, xxx 

Confucianism, xviii 

Contact, xxvii, xxx, 52; as deter- 
mining quality of rural commu- 
nity, 21; business, transportation, 
newspaper, letters, 19; conditions 
of, 22; index, 19-22; index, cor- 
rections of, 20; primary, 340; 
quantification of, 19; method of 
estimation of, 20f.; of village 
folk, 18f.; on the ferry, 6-8; tests 
of quality of, 21f. 

Contrasts in art, 2o1f. 

Control, xxiv; incidents of, xviii; by 
elders, 108-10; of personal wishes 
in relation to neighborhood, 338; 
fields and forms of political, 122f. 

Conventionality, xxviii, 275-78 


309 


Cooperative, Irrigation, 
206f.; society, 88f. 

Council of leaders, xxiv 

Courts, cases, 322; criminal and 
civil, xxviii; leaders as village, 
127; regional, 132 

Crime, xviii, xxiv; types of, 318f.; 
as a cause of emigration, 49 

Crises in death and its solution by 
Parent Burial Association, 198f.; 
in modern life, 345 

Cultural aspects of village life, xviii; 
invasion from North China, 42 

Culture trait, 16f.; complex and 
religion, 308f.; economic elements 
of, 63; expansion of ‘‘Chinese’’, 
62-67; fundaments, 52 

Curricula, xviii; and modern schools, 
236-42 

Curriculum, xxvi; administration of 
old type, 225f.; of the old type, 
224-26 

Customary law, 139 

Customs, xvii 


Society, 


Daughters, xxiv 

Death and dissolution of marriage, 
185; and its fears as involved in 
Parent Burial Association, 197f.; 
rates, 31-33 

Defectives, 54 

Deficit economy, xxiii 

Delimitation of community, meth- 
od of, 338ff. 

Democracy and Mutual Aid Club, 
196; village, 133f. 

Dialects of the coast, 66 

Denudation, 27 

Discipline, 235f. 

Discussion, 114f. 

Diseases commonly found in Phenix 
Village, 55-57 

Dishonesty, 326f. 

Dissolution, xxv 


360 


Division of labor, 88 

Divorce, xxv; non-existence of, 184 
Djou dynasty, III 

Doctor, 60 

Dominance, xxv; wish for, 46-193 
Doolittle, v 

Doors, 274 

Drains, 57f. 

Droughts, xxili 

Dualism in philosophy, 312f. 
Dunn, 335 


Ecology of rural community, 15 

Economic, attitude predominant in 
intentional groups, 212; family, 
xxiv, 158f.; as social unit of mutual 
aid, 152; composition of, family, 
148-50; in relation to adminis- 
tration of punishments, 322f.; 
fundament of ‘‘Chinese’’ iden- 
tical with Europe, 63; group and 
polity, 123; phenomena, xvii; 
productivity, period of, 38 

EDUCATION, AND THE SCHOOLS, 
XVlli, Xxv, 216-60; in play, 258f.; 
modernization of, 220ff.; of boys, 
informal, 256-59; of girls, xxii, 
249-56; opportunities in, 247-49; 
religious, 250f. 

Educational, administration as a 
function of leadership, 132; re- 
organization, 226-30 

Effects of emigration, 50-54 

Emigration, xxiii, 40-54, 90, 162; 
and art, 277; and dissolution of 
marriage, 185; and social control, 
333; causes of, 44-50; effects of, 
50; changes in, 28; in North 
China, 47 

Emigrants, marriage of, 181f. 

Environs of Phenix Village, 8-11 

ETHNIC RELATIONSHIPS, xvii, 62-83 

Ethnos, village, 260 

Ethnotic, 47 


COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


Evaluation, theory of, 313 
Exile, xxviii 
Exogamy incorporated into law, 168 


‘“‘Face’’, 200; education, xxv, 251, 
260 

Facial characteristics, 74f. 

Familism, and neighborhood under 
emigration, 54; as injured by 
emigration, xvii; definition of,asa 
social system, xxix, 187f.; in con- 
flict with capitalism, 346; in rela- 
tion to politics, 117 

FAMILY, AND THE SIB, 135-88, xviii; 
attitudes and values, 15; distri- 
bution of, by income, xvii 

Familist autonomy, xxviii; economy 
not completely independent, 95f.; 
groupings, 140-50; income, xxiv; 
organization, xxili, 162; perpet- 
uity, xxiv; religion, supervision of, 
as a function of leadership, 132; 
solidarity, probable survival of, 
346 

Farming, 84 

Fate, as controlling the selection of 
mates, 171-77 

Feasts, 202 

Fecundity, 33 

Feeling of inferiority, 46; in rela- 
tion to art, 276 

Fees in the transition period, 229f. 

Fengshui, 11, 285f.; and education, 
216; disappearance of, 218f. 

Ferry, xxiii; Phenix Village, 5-8 

Field investigator, xvii 

Fields, 11-13 

Filial, duties, xxiv; piety and asso- 
ciation, 201; piety as a cause of 
emigration, 49; as old age insur- 
ance, predominant attitude of 
village life, 135-37 

Finances of modern schools, 246 

Findings, xxiii 


Ve 


INDEX 


Floods, 25-27; as cause of emigra- 
tion, xvii, xxiii, 84 

Folk heroes, xxvii 

Folk wishes in art forms, 293 

Folklore, xvii 

Foreign relations committee, the 
leaders as a, 126 

Formal education, 248 

Formulation of customary law as 
a function of leadership, 132 

Friendship, xxv 

Fruit-growing, xxiii, 84f. 


Gambling, 325f. 

Gardening, 84 

Geographical relations, 18; situa- 
tion, xvii 

Geography, fundamental notion of 
neighborhood and community, 
XXX, 334 

Giddings, F. H., 214 

Giles, Sirange Stories from a Chinese 
Studio, 280 

Girls, analysis of activities of, 252f.; 
as slaves, 165f.; education of, 
249-56; educational practices of, 
217f.; home training of, 253-56; 
importance of, 152; sib member- 
ship of, 144f. 

Gods, xxvii; of wind and water, 61; 
village, xviii 

Gossip, xxvi 

Graves, 300f. 

Graveyard, 185 

Groups, attitudes of, 211-15; clas- 
sifications of, 141f.; causes and 
formation of, 141; feeling, the 
notion of, 126f.; fractured, and 
the chia-chang, 149; natural, 
in Phenix Village, 141f.; inten- 
tional, of Phenix Village, 142, 
189-215; kinship, xviii; motive 
in cooperative society, 207; psy- 
choanalytic explanation of, 206; 


361 


organization of, 195; sociology 
of, 140-42; typical familist, 156—- 
64; types of, for economic needs, 
215 


Hakka dialect, 79f. 

Han dynasty, expansion of control 
in the South, 65 

Han River, 1; up the, 4-6 

Handicrafts, 87f. 

Health, xxx; and population, 29- 
61; and sanitation, 54-61; edu- 
cation, 59; superstitions affecting, 
57-59 

Heredity, xxx 

Hieronymous, 335 

Historical community, xxvii 

Holo dialect, 79 

Homestead, form as fitting familist 
organization, 155f. 

Horoscopes, divination of, in mar- 
riage, 171-80 

Houses, distribution of, 14; sanita- 
tion of, 58f. 

Hua Gung Ma, 295 


I Ching, Book of Changes, 186, 312f. 

Imitation, 258 

Immigrant experience, effect upon 
village, 52f. 

Immorality, as an index of individ- 
ualization, 315f.; kinds of, xviii 

Inadequacy of village life, 345f. 

Income, xvii; sources of, 85-87 

Index, contact, 19-22 

Individualism and familism, 188 

INDIVIDUALIZATION, XXVii, 315-34 

Industrial communities, xxvii; oc- 
cupations, 8of. 

Infant mortality, 33 

Infanticide, existence of, 166 

Informants, xx 

Inheritance, 159, 186; and concu- 
binage, 182 


362 


Ink, in village art, 265-68 
Instincts, 45 
Institutions, village, xxvii 
Instruction in schools, xxvi 
Intelligence tests, need of, 55 
Intentional groups, xxv, 214 
Interaction, xxx, 18 
“‘Interest’’, concept of, 118 
Invention, xxx 
Investigation, 
xxx 
Irrigation Club, xxv; cooperative 
society, 206f. 
Isolation, 18ff.; of phenomena, xv 


315-33; unit of, 


Jackson, 335 

Judgment, as application of social 
opinion, xxviii 

Justice in Phenix Village, 323 


Kiangsi, 62 

Kin, aspects of, 106-08; status and 
polity, 106 

Kinship, 29f.; basis of, 135; group, 
41; in relation to neighborhood, 
338; land basis of, 138f.; law 
basis of, 130f. 

Kwantung, I; government of, 134 


Lacquer, 270f. 

Land values, IoI 

Language, xvil 

Law, customary and_familistic, 
1209f.; general code of the Chinese 
emperor, Ja Ching Lu Li, 139 

Leaders, xxiv; as chia-chang, 160; 
corruption of, 131f.; in Mutual 
Aid Club, 193; in relation to 
criminal responsibility, 323f.; nat- 
ural, 114-17; responsibility for 
inadequacy, 346; types of, I10 

Leadership and polity, 106; func- 
tions of, 132f.; types of, xviii 

Leang and Tao, v 

Learning, xxvi, 258 


COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


Legal aid as a function of leadership, 
132 

Lepers, 54 

Levirate in Phenix Village, 168f. 

Life histories of emigrants, 47 

Likemindedness, 214 

Lineal status, xxv 

Lindeman, 335 

Literary consumption, xxvi; god, 
294 

Living community, xxvii; 
tions, pressure of, 47f. 

Location of village, xvii 


condi- 


Magic, 285f. 

Magical devices, xxvii 

MAINTENANCE PRACTICES, 84-105 

Manchuria, 42 

Manufacturing, Sugar, Association, 
203-06 

Marital status, xvii, 38-40; graph of, 
37; table of, 36 

Market, center of Phenix Village, 
10, 13; street, 30; village, 93-96 

Marriage, xxv; age at, 176; and 
mating, 166-86; by purchase, a 
negative value, 174f.; ceremonies, 
determining the time of, 175-77; 
dissolution of, 184-86; distribu- 
tion of, 39; in relation to village 
unity, 81f.; license, 177; mores, 
violation of, 50; spiritual sanc- 
tion of, 172 

Match-maker, function in marriage, 
170-82 

Mates, selection of secondary, 169 

Mating, xxiv; and marriage, 166-86; 
conventional aspects of, primary 
forms of, 169; forms of, 181-84 

Measurements of body, 60f. 

Membership, xxiv 

Meteorology of Phenix Village dis- 
trict, 24 

Middleman, 99 


ee 


INDEX 


Migration and the community, 
344f.; in China, 41-45 

Military god, 293f. 

Mindlessness, 214 

Miscellaneous occupations, 8of. 

Modern period in education, 230- 
60; schools, 345 

Moieties, or branch-families, 106 

Money in betrothal negotiations, 
173f. 

Mongolia, 42 

Monogamy, I81 

Monogamous family, 162 

Monsoon season, I0 

Mores, xxiii; of mating, 
violation of marriage, 50 

Mortality, xviii; infant, 33 

Movements, area of, 40-45; of popu- 
lation, xviii 

Multi-sib village, 116 

Mural painting, 268-70 

Music, xviii; club, xxv, 209-II; 
forms of, 278 

Mutual aid, the economic family as 
a social unit of, 152; club, xxv, 
189-96; operation of, 191; organi- 
zation, 190 


166-86; 


National language, 225 

Natural community, xxvii; family, 
XXiv, 41, 142, 158, 338; function 
of, 180f.; ownership in, 1I12f.; 
groups in Phenix Village, 141f.; 
leaders, 114-17; leadership, xxiv 

Necromancy, 285ff.; as preventing 
sanitation, 58; values of Phenix 
Village and Almanac, 187 

Neighborhood, and kinship group, 
338; as an area of intimate dis- 
course, xxx; contacts, primary, 
gossip, xxix; definition of, 330; in 
Phenix Village, 339-43; spiritual, 
341-43; the village as a, and a 
community, 334-46 


363 


New experience, xxv; desire for, 
45; wish for, 194 

Newspaper contacts, 19 

North China, 42; subjected to one 
rule, 65 


Occupational distribution, 90 

Occupations, 87-93; for distinct 
groups, 8of.; types of, xvii 

Offenses, xxviii 

Offspring as chief familist value, 180 

Organic method of study, xiv 

Organization, xxv; of groups and 
severity of crisis, 215; political, 
XViii; social, xviii 

Ownership, I0I-04 


Paintings, 267f.; mural, 268-70 

Parent Burial Association, xxv, 
196-203; ancestral worship and 
filial piety, 201; organization of, 
190f. 

Participation-education, 252 

Pathology, social, xviii 

Paths, 15-18 

Pentagonal skull, 74 

Personal ascendency and the natu- 
ral leader, 115; hygiene, 6o0f.; 
recognition, xxv; rivalry, xxv 

Personality, xxviii; stabilized, 316f. 

Phenix, River, 8-13; Village, xvi, 
11-18; as a neighborhood, 339- 
43; as a community, xxix; as an 
area of adequacy, 343-46; emi- 
gration from, 44-54; environs of, 
8-11; establishment of, 68f.; re- 
gional map of, 9; relation of, to 
China and South Seas, 2 

Philanthropy as a function of 
leadership, 132 

Philosophical dualism, 312f. 

Philosophy in the village, 311-13 

Physical characteristics, comparison 
between Phenix Village and other 


364 


Asiatic groups, 77; drill, 237f.; 
of men in Phenix Village, 69-79; 
measurements of Phenix Village 
men, 71 

Play-education, 258f.; ground, 282 

Plurality of communities, xxvii, 317 

Political organization, xix 

Polity, village, 106-34 

Polygyny, 181; in natural 
economic-family, 161 

POPULATION AND HEALTH, 29-61; 
composition of the, 34-40; dis- 
tribution of, xvii; mobility of, 4o- 
54; movements of, xviii 

Poverty, xxiii, 104f.; in the formation 
of Parent Burial Association, 197 

Preferential mating, chart of, 167 

Primogeniture, existence of, 186 

Primary contact, 340f. 

Private ceremonies of ancestral 
worship, 301f.; ownership, 103f. 

Processes, xxx 

Procession, religious, 297-99 

Professional occupations, 8o0f.; spir- 
itists, 288 

Prohibited relationships from sex 
intercourse, 332 

Projects, 84; as values, xxx 

Production functions, xxiii 

Property, confiscation of, xxviii; 
ownership of, by wife, 150; and 
concubinage, 150f. 

Prostitution compared to concu- 
binage, 330f. 

Psychic compensation, 46 

Public ceremonies of ancestral wor- 
ship, 302-06; lands, 102; works 
as a function of leadership, 132 

Punishments, xviii, xxviii, 319-24; 
administration of, 321-24; forms 
of, 320f.; by the head of a sib 
group, 127 

Pupils, xviii; in the transition pe- 
riod, 228 


and 


COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


Racial relations, 67-79 

Racially, xxiii 

Radio, xxvii, 283 

Railway, Swatow to Chaochow, 3-4 

Rainfall, mean monthly total, 25 

Rates, birth and death, 31-33 

Recognition, desire for, 45f. 

Recreation, xviii, xxiv; adult forms 
of, 282; and art, 261-83; forms 
of, 281ff. 
Recreational life of women, xxvi 
Red, cards in marriage, 170f.; paper, 
285; for religious bulletin, 295 
REGIONAL SITUATION, I-28; char- 
acteristics, xvii; map of Phenix 
Village, 9 

Registering marriage, xxiv 

Relationship, ethnic, 62-83 

RELIGION AND THE SPIRITUAL COM- 
MUNITY, 284-314, Xvili, Xxvii; 
function of, 314 

Religious, attitudes, 307-09; educa- 
tion, 259f.; family, xxiv, 145-48, 
159f.; images, 295; membership 
in, basis of, 147f.; procession, 
Xxlli, 297-99; social function of, 
299 

Research, xiv 

Residences, 14; of membership in 
the rural community, 120; of 
sovereignty, Xviili 

Response, desire for, 45f.; preferen- 
tial personal, 46 

Responsibility, for crime, 323f.; in 
crime, 127f.; of the head, xxviii 

Rites of worship, 300 

Road building, methods of, 17 

Rural, sociologists, 334; village 
community, 18, 206; ecology, 15; 
education, 239 


Sacrifices, arrangement of articles 
in home worship, 302 
Salaries in the transition period, 220f. 


INDEX 


Sanchaopu, census of, 355 

Sanderson, 334f. 

Sanitation, xviii 

Sanitation, Health and, 54-61 

Scholarship, xxiv 

Scholars, as leaders, I10-13, 116; 
business of, 218; Hall, 14, 111, 218 

Schools, xxvi; and community, 
250f.; census of 1923, 245f.; com- 
parison of, in the transition 
period, 222; education of, 216- 
60; evaluation in, 242-45; equip- 
ment, 231-33; member of the 
village, 125 

Scientific control, xiv 

Security as a dominant motive in 
society, 207; desire for, 45f. 

Scrolls, 266 

Seasons, 25 

Self-complex, 258 

Service area, 337f.; functions, xxiii 

Sex, xvii; and kin status, 107f.; de- 
linquency, 329-33; distribution, 
38; graph of, 37; groups in 
Phenix Village, 142f., 158f.; and 
polity, 123; irregularity, causes 
for, 332; reasons for infrequency 
of, 331; table of, 36; taboos, 332 

Shamanism, 288f. 

Shansi, xxiii; region of early settle- 
ment, 63 

Shirokogoroff, Prof. S. M., 76f., 
352; Anthropology of North China, 
70 

Shops, types of, 93-96 

Sib, xviii, xxii, 143-45; and the 
school, 232; and natural leaders, 
114; family, and the, 135-88; 
religion of, xvii; religious organ- 
ization of, 300f. 

Siblings, 166-69 

Singapore, 50 

Skin color, 74 

Slaves, 164-66; existence of male, 


365 


165f.; girls, work of, 88; treat- 
ment of, 164f. 

S Ming Gung, 179f. 

Smith, v . 

Social, approval of birth practices, 
203; control, 315-18; life of the 
Chinese, v; opinion, xxiii—xxviii; 
and common law, 139; and leader- 
ship, 116f.; and punishment, 324; 
as expressed by leaders, 125; con- 
cerning mates, 50; forms of, xviii; 
limiting rights of chia-chang, 102; 
organization, xviii; causes for, 
193f.; pathology, xviii; practices, 
immoral, xxvili; processes, 28; 
self-consciousness, expansion of, 
in birth practices, 203; values 
in Phenix Village, 314 

Society, xxx; for the manufacture 
of sugar, xxv; irrigation, coopera- 
tive, 206 

Socialism and familism, 188 

Socioanalysis, xxx, 334 

Sociological method for the study 
of village, xvi 

Sociology of a group, 140-42 

Sons, xxiv 

Sources of income, xvii 

South China, culture complex, 66f.; 
types, 76-79; Sea Islands, 40 

Sovereignty, incidence of, 117; 
limits of village, 120-23; residence 
of, xviii; ultimate element of, 122 

Spencer, Herbert, v 

Spiritism, 287-89 

Spirits, xxvii, 15-18 

Spirit-sib community, 185 


Spiritists, professional and tem- 
porary, 288 
Spiritual community, xxv; and 


religion, 284-314 
State, xxvili; government, xxiv 
Static type of village community, 
xvii 


366 


Status, xxiv; leadership in village 
clubs, 194; of brides depending 
on motherhood of sons, 143f.; of 
concubines, I51 

Statutory reorganization, 130f. 

Stereotypes, xxvii 

Story-telling, xxvi, 278-81 

Stoves, 162 

Straits Settlements, 41, 42, 276 

Sugar Manufacturing Association, 
203-06 

Suggestion, 258 

Sung dynasty, xxiii, 217; and official 
examination, IIIf. 

Superstitions affecting health, 57-59 

Supervision of morals as a function 
of leadership, 132 

Swatow, 341 


Taboos, 324-33; of marriage, 166f.; 
strengthening village unity, 81f. 

Ta Ching Lu Li, Code of Laws of 
the Chinese Empire, 139 

Tan Tou, 10, 14, 162 

Tan Village, 8-15, 341 

Taoism, xviii 

Taxes, xxiv, XXViii 

Teachers, xviii, xxvi; in modern 
schools, 233f.; methods and ob- 
jectives, 234ff. 

Technology, xxx 

Temperature, mean variability of, 
23ff. 

Temple, interior of, 291-97; village, 
14, 289-99 

Temporary spiritists, 288 

Thomas, W. I., 45 

Traditional norms, xxviii 

Transition period of village educa- 
tion, 220-24 

Transportation contacts, 19; point, 
13 

Tribes, Turcic and Mongol, 64 

Tsth, first wife, 50 


COUNTRY LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA 


Tsing Ming festival, 301 
Tungus, 65 


Unit of study, xv 
Universe of discourse, I10f. 


Values, familist, 15, 255; introduc- 
tion of new, xxx; involved in the 
selection of, 169; offspring as the 
principal familist, 180; of Phenix 
Village, weakening, I60f.; per- 
sonal, social and maintenance, 
105; schemes in education, 248f. 

Vehicles, absence of, 17f. 

VILLAGE POLITY, xxiv, 106-34; ad- 
ministration, 123-24; and town 
life in China, v; AS A NEIGHBOR- 
HOOD AND AS A COMMUNITY, 
334-46; beauty, xxvi; commu- 
nity, and economic-family as a 
unit of, 149f.; cultural aspects of, 
Xviii; democracy, 133f.; education, 
the history of, 217-24; ethnos, 260, 
330; finance, management of, as a 
function of leadership, 132; gods, 
XViii; institutions, xxvii; leaders, 
administrative functions of, 124— 
33; life in China, v; market, 93- 
96; mores, inculcation of, and 
the education of girls, 254; phi- 
losophy, 311-13; origin of, xvii; 
sib, xxiv; temples, architecture 
of, use of, 289-99; entrance, 269; 
unity, xxvii, 81-83; and the 
natural leader, 115; values, 314 


Walls, decoration of, 274 

Waterways, 18 

Watson, J. B., 45 

Wealth, 85-87; and polity, 106 

Wedding ceremonies, 177-81; chair, 
artistic decoration of, 275 

Wet, 62 

Wells, 59 


| 





INDEX 367 


Wen Li, 219 

Wen Ti, 294 

Wholesale fruit dealers, g1f. 

Widows, 149; remarriage of, 158 

Widowers, remarriage of, 158 

Wine drinking, 325 

Wish complex, 46; analysis of, 46; 
formation of, 46 

Wishes, xxv; as causes of group 
formation, 193-96; complexes sat- 
ised in the community, 345; for 
dominance, 193; for security, xxv; 
in relation to neighborhood, 338 

Women, forms of recreation for, 
282f.; intellectual life of, 98; rec- 


reational life of, xxvi; status of, 
150f.; work of, 96-99 

Work of women, 96-99 

Worship, of ancestors, and the 
person’s réle in the supernatural 
community, 260; collective ob- 
jectives of, xxvii; in village tem- 
ple, 296f.; in home, 154; in mar- 
riage, 179f.; of ancestors, 146f., 
299-306; of associations as relief 
from tension, 205; social function 
of, 180 

Wu Di Ya, 2936. 


Yang-ying, 312. 


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